Lucy Cooke on Hawaii's seabirds pairing up with the same sex THE Laysan albatross is a great example of how looks can be deceiving. Albatrosses are a famous symbol of monogamy - they typically mate with the same bird for life. When Republican First Lady Laura Bush visited Hawaii, ' she commended the nesting Laysan albatross couples for their lifelong commitments. What no one knew at the time was that many of those committed couples were, to put it anthropomorphically, lesbians.The colony at Kaena Point, Oahu, has been documented by biologists for over a century, but their unconventional coupling went undetected until 2008. It’s easy to see why - both male and female are all but identical. The only clue that something ‘avant-garde’ was going on was the curious preponderance of nests bearing two eggs.
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