研究表明，同性行为可以追溯到动物进化的根源

A study published Monday in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution posits that researchers should be asking “why not?” instead of why in terms of animals engaging in same-sex behavior (SSB).

周一发表在《自然生态与进化》(Nature Ecology & Evolution)杂志上的一项研究认为，研究人员应该问“为什么不呢?”而不是为什么动物会有同性行为(SSB)。

“Usually, when evolutionary biologists see a trait that’s really widespread across evolutionary lineages, we at least consider the idea that the trait is ancestral and was preserved in all those lineages,” Julia Monk, a doctoral candidate at Yale University, who co-authored the new research, told Live Science. “So why hadn’t people considered that hypothesis for SSB?”

“通常，当进化生物学家看到一种特征在进化谱系中非常普遍时，我们至少会认为这种特征是祖先留下的，并保存在所有这些谱系中，”耶鲁大学(Yale University)的博士生朱莉娅·蒙克(Julia Monk)在接受《生活科学》(Live Science)采访时表示。“那么为什么人们没有考虑到SSB的假设呢?”

According to Live Science, researchers have seen same-sex sexual behavior as posing a conflict: Scientists have wondered why animals would spend time doing something sexual that doesn’t involve passing on their genes to future generations. Still, same-sex sexual behavior has been seen in 1,500 species.

据《生活科学》报道，研究人员认为同性性行为会引发冲突:科学家们想知道，为什么动物会花时间做一些与性有关的事情，而不把自己的基因遗传给后代。尽管如此，在1500个物种中已经发现了同性性行为。

The scientists make a point in their study of not using words like “gay” or “straight” or any term that humans use to describe sexuality.

科学家们在他们的研究中强调，不要使用“同性恋”或“异性恋”等字眼，也不要使用任何人类用来描述性行为的词汇。

The researchers hypothesize that the oldest sexually reproducing animals tried to mate with any or all members of their species, regardless of sex.

研究人员假设，最古老的有性繁殖动物试图与任何或所有同类交配，而不考虑性别。

According to Live Science, the authors argue that this path could’ve made sense as a way to compensate for the fact that distinguishing traits between males and females are “energetically costly” to evolve.

根据《生活科学》杂志的报道，作者们认为，这条路可能是有意义的，因为它可以弥补这样一个事实，即区分男性和女性的特征在进化过程中“耗费了大量精力”。

Caitlin McDonough, a study co-author and doctoral candidate at Syracuse University, said the new hypothesis undercuts old assumptions about same-sex behavior, including the notion that it is costly in comparison with different-sex behavior.

雪城大学(Syracuse University)的博士研究生、该研究的合著者凯特琳?麦克多诺(Caitlin McDonough)说，新的假设削弱了关于同性行为的旧假设，包括与不同的性行为相比，同性行为代价高昂的概念。

“You really need to go through those assumptions and test the costs and benefits of both behaviors in a system,” McDonough said.

麦克多诺说:“你真的需要仔细考虑这些假设，并测试一个系统中这两种行为的成本和收益。”

Monk said that if same-sex behaviors go back to the roots of animal evolution, the fact that these behaviors are so common today makes sense.

蒙克说，如果同性行为可以追溯到动物进化的根源，那么这些行为在今天如此普遍是有道理的。