The gay elephant

It isn't actually that unusual to find gay animals: homosexualityexists in many more species than just mankind. But it does seem that this simpletruth gets certain people a little hot under the collar. For example, one Polish politician is upset about the existence of a gay elephant.

Yes, really, a gay elephant.

A Polish politician has criticized his local zoo for acquiring a "gay" elephant named Ninio who prefers male companions and will probably not procreate, local media reported Friday.

"We didn't pay 37 million zlotys ($11 million) for the largest elephant house in Europe to have a gay elephant live there," Michal Grzes, a conservative councilor in the city of Poznan in western Poland, was quoted as saying.

What makes his posturing over this gay elephant so much more amusing is the rest of the story:

"We were supposed to have a herd, but as Ninio prefers male friends over females how will he produce offspring?" said Grzes, who is from the right-wing opposition Law and Justice party.

The head of the Poznan zoo said 10-year-old Ninio may be too young to decide whether he prefers males or females as elephants only reach sexual maturity at 14.

Yup, that's really going to help. Here we've got a confused teenage boy and some politician is spreading stories about his wussiness all over town. Really going to help, that.