The majority of male rhesus macaque monkeys are bisexual, according to British researchers. After studying the animals in Puerto Rico, they found that the monkeys were more likely to have sex with each other than with female macaques.

72 percent of males had sex with other males. 46 percent had sex with females.

Researchers believe that the behavior increases social bonds and supportive relationships – and it may be genetic. 6.4% of the monkeys seemed to have inherited the trait.

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“We found most males were behaviourally bisexual, and that variation in same-sex activity was heritable,” Jackson Clive, one of the study’s authors, said.

“Our research, therefore, shows that same-sex sexual behaviors can be common amongst animals and can evolve. I hope our results encourage further discoveries in this area.”

A 2019 study found a link between several genes and homosexuality in humans.

Andrea Ganna, the lead author of the study published in Science and European Molecular Biology Laboratory group leader at the Institute of Molecular Medicine in Finland, said that the research shows that sexual diversity is “a natural part of our diversity as a species.”

“This new research also reconfirms the long-established understanding that there is no conclusive degree to which nature or nurture influences how a gay or lesbian person behaves,” Zeke Stokes of GLAAD said at the time. “Being gay or lesbian is a natural part of human life, a conclusion that has been drawn by researchers and scientists time and again.”

“Unfortunately, there is still a belief amongst some people that same-sex behavior is ‘unnatural,’ and some countries sadly still enforce the death penalty for homosexuality,” Professor Vincent Savolainen, the monkey study’s senior author, explained.

“Our research shows that same-sex behavior is, in fact, widespread amongst non-human animals.”

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