Sunday, June 29, 2008

Gay whales at Sea World

This weekend I finally crossed San Diego's most visited tourist attraction off my list of fun things to do here.
And while the killer whale show certainly lived up to its hype even without the original Shamu as the star, it was a different group of whales that proved to be the most fascinating.

At the end of the day, we made our way through the Wild Arctic attraction and found a pair of Beluga whales completely immersed in a courtship dance. As the big white whales swam in unison belly to belly their tails nudged each other, prompting an instant erection to sprout from one of the animals. But the mating attempt failed with each pass.

This went on for 10 or 15 minutes, and some of us in the crowd of voyeurs started wondering why it seemed so difficult for the pair to complete the deed. That's when we noticed that the other whale was also sporting an erection, too. Silence broke out as we all processed what we were witnessing - homosexuality alive and well in the wild animal kingdom. Tragically, the lighting was too dim for photos.

This could be one more bit of proof that homosexuality is, indeed, a far more common occurrence in nature than some might be willing to acknowledge. Or it could just be the whales' way of celebrating gay pride week with the rest of us.
The amusement park has several areas where you can interact with marine animals, and I couldn't resist giving a starfish a belly rub.

We saw jellyfish.
And cuttlefish.
And piranhas.
Rex had his first official "senior moment" at the ticket booth when he discovered that he qualified for a discount because he's over 50. Could an AARP membership and weekly bingo nights be far behind?

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