title: Union of South Africa

text: At the onset of the war, the British were both overconfident about the chances of success in a military confrontation with the Boer republics and underprepared for a long-term conflict. British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury and members of his cabinet, in particular Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain, ignored repeated warnings that Boer forces were more powerful than previous reports had suggested. In the last months of 1899, Boer forces launched the first attacks of the war, besieging the British-held settlements of Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking, and winning several engagements against British troops at Colenso, Magersfontein and Stormberg. However, by the next year the British soon organized an effective response to these attacks, lifting the three sieges and winning several battles against Boer forces. The British, now deploying approximately 400,000 soldiers from across their colonial empire, successfully invaded and occupied the Boer republics. Numerous Boer soldiers refused to surrender and took to the countryside to carry out guerrilla operations against the British, who responded by implementing scorched earth tactics. These tactics included interning Afrikaner civilians from the Boer republics in concentration camps (in which roughly 28,000 people died) and destroying homesteads owned by Afrikaners to flush out the guerillas and deny them a base of civilian support. Using these tactics combined with a system of blockhouses and barriers to seal off Boer holdouts, the British were able to gradually track down and defeat the guerillas. In the 1902 Treaty of Vereeniging, the British formally annexed the Boer republics into the Cape Colony, ending the war.


title: Union of South Africa

text: The National Convention was a constitutional convention held between 1908 and 1909 in Durban (12 October to 5 November 1908), Cape Town (23 November to 18 December 1908, 11 January to 3 February 1909) and Bloemfontein (3 to 11 May 1909). This convention led to the British Parliament's adoption of the South Africa Act, which ratified the Union. The four colonies that would become South Africa were represented, along with a delegation from Rhodesia. The 33 delegates assembled behind closed doors, in the fear that a public affair would lead delegates to refuse compromising on contentious areas. The delegates drew up a constitution that would, subject to some amendments by the British government, become the South Africa Act, which was South Africa's constitution between 1910 and 1961, when the country became a republic under the Constitution of 1961.


title: Union of South Africa

text: In 1922 the colony of Southern Rhodesia had a chance (but ultimately rejected) to join the Union through a referendum. The referendum resulted from the fact that by 1920 British South Africa Company rule in Southern Rhodesia was no longer practical with many favouring some form of 'responsible government'. Some favoured responsible government within Southern Rhodesia while others (especially in Matabeleland) favoured membership in the Union of South Africa. Politician Sir Charles Coghlan claimed that such membership with the Union would make Southern Rhodesia the "Ulster of South Africa".


title: Union of South Africa

text: Prior to the referendum, representatives of Southern Rhodesia visited Cape Town where the Prime Minister of South Africa, Jan Smuts, eventually offered terms he considered reasonable and which the United Kingdom government found acceptable. Although opinion among the United Kingdom government, the South African government and the British South Africa Company favoured the union option (and none tried to interfere in the referendum), when the referendum was held the results saw 59.4% in favour of responsible government for a separate colony and 40.6% in favour of joining the Union of South Africa.


title: Union of South Africa

text: The inhospitable coast of what is now the Republic of Namibia remained uncolonised up until the end of the 19th century.


title: Union of South Africa

text: From 1874, the leaders of several indigenous peoples, notably Maharero of the Herero nation, approached the Cape Parliament to the south. Anticipating invasion by a European power and already suffering Portuguese encroachment from the north and Afrikaner encroachment from the south, these leaders approached the Cape Colony government to discuss the possibility of accession and the political representation it would entail. Accession to the Cape Colony, a self-governing state with a system of multi-racial franchise and legal protection for traditional land rights, was at the time considered marginally preferable to annexation by either the Kingdom of Portugal or the German Empire.


title: Union of South Africa

text: In response, the Cape Parliament appointed a special Commission under William Palgrave, to travel to the territory between the Orange and Cunene rivers and to confer with these leaders regarding accession to the Cape. In the negotiations with the Palgrave Commission, some indigenous nations such as the Damara and the Herero responded positively (October 1876), other reactions were mixed. Discussions regarding the magisterial structure for the area's political integration into the Cape dragged on until, from 1876, it was blocked by Britain. Britain relented, insofar as allowing the Cape to incorporate Walvis Bay as an exclave, which was brought under the magisterial district of Cape Town, but when the Germans established a protectorate over the area in 1884, South West Africa was predominantly autonomous.


title: Union of South Africa

text: Thereafter, South West Africa became a German colony, except for Walvis Bay and the Offshore Islands which remained part of the Cape, outside of German control.


title: Union of South Africa

text: Following the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the Union of South Africa occupied and annexed the German colony of German South West Africa. With the establishment of the League of Nations and cessation of the war, South Africa obtained a Class C Mandate to administer South West Africa "under the laws of the mandatory (South Africa) as integral portions of its territory". Subsequently, the Union of South Africa generally regarded South West Africa as a fifth province, although this was never an official status.


title: Union of South Africa

text: With the creation of the United Nations, the Union applied for the incorporation of South West Africa, but its application was rejected by the U.N., which invited South Africa to prepare a Trusteeship agreement instead. This invitation was in turn rejected by the Union, which subsequently did not modify the administration of South West Africa and continued to adhere to the original mandate. This caused a complex set of legal wranglings that were not finalised when the Union was replaced with the Republic of South Africa. In 1949, the Union passed a law bringing South West Africa into closer association with it including giving South West Africa representation in the South African parliament.


title: Union of South Africa

text: Walvis Bay, which is now in Namibia, was originally a part of the Union of South Africa as an exclave as it was a part of the Cape Colony at the time of Unification. In 1921 Walvis Bay was integrated with the Class C Mandate over South West Africa for the rest of the Union's duration and for part of the republican era.


title: Union of South Africa

text: The Statute of Westminster passed by the British Parliament in December 1931, which repealed the Colonial Laws Validity Act and implemented the Balfour Declaration 1926, had a profound impact on the constitutional structure and status of the Union. The most notable effect was that the South African Parliament was released from many restrictions concerning the handling of the so-called "native question". However, the repeal was not sufficient to enable the South African Parliament to ignore the entrenched clauses of its constitution (the South Africa Act) which led to the coloured-vote constitutional crisis of the 1950s wherein the right of coloureds to vote in the main South African Parliament was removed and replaced with a separate, segregated, and largely powerless assembly.


title: Union of South Africa

text: The military of the Union of South Africa was the Union Defence Force (UDF) until 1957, when it became the South African Defence Force.


title: Losartan

text: Losartan, sold under the brand name Cozaar among others, is a medication used to treat high blood pressure (hypertension). It is in the angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) family of medication, and is considered protective of the kidneys. Besides hypertension, it is also used in diabetic kidney disease, heart failure, and left ventricular enlargement. It comes as a tablet that is taken by mouth. It may be used alone or in addition to other blood pressure medication. Up to six weeks may be required for the full effects to occur.


title: Losartan

text: Common adverse effects include muscle cramps, stuffy nose, cough, high blood potassium, and anemia. Severe adverse effects may include angioedema, low blood pressure, and kidney problems. Use during pregnancy may result in harm to the baby. Use is not recommended during breastfeeding. It works by blocking angiotensin II.


title: Losartan

text: Losartan was patented in 1986, and approved for medical use in the United States in 1995. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. It is available as a generic medication. In 2020, it was the ninth most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 54million prescriptions. A version combined with hydrochlorothiazide is available which, in 2020, was the 93rd most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 7million prescriptions.


title: Losartan

text: Losartan potassium is chemically described as 2-butyl-4-chloro-1-[p-(o-1H-tetrazol-5-ylphenyl)benzyl]imidazole-5-metahnol monopotassium salt. Its empirical formula is , and its molecular weight is 422.9.


title: Losartan

text: Losartan is generally marketed as the (basic) potassium salt of the aromatized negatively charged tetrazole, called "losartan potassium". The molecule has an extended biphenyl group with a tetrazole which is being used in place of the carboxylic acid as a bioisostere.


title: Losartan

text: Losartan is used for hypertension, including in people with left ventricular hypertrophy (enlarged heart muscle), and kidney dysfunction among type II diabetics. It may also delay progression of diabetic nephropathy. It is a suitable pharmacological agent for the reduction of renal disease progression in patients with type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and microalbuminuria (>30 mg/24 hours) or proteinuria (>900 mg/24 hours).


title: Losartan

text: Although evidence shows calcium channel blockers and thiazide-type diuretics are preferred first-line treatments for most people (due to both efficacy and cost), an angiotensin II receptor antagonist such as losartan is recommended as first-line treatment in people under the age of 55 who cannot tolerate an ACE inhibitor. One study demonstrated losartan was superior to atenolol in the primary prevention of adverse cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction or stroke), with a reduction in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality for a comparable reduction in blood pressure. The maximal effects on blood pressure usually occur within 3–6 weeks of starting losartan.


title: Losartan

text: The most common adverse effects for losartan in adults are upper respiratory infections, dizziness, and back pain. People with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease may experience diarrhea, fatigue, low blood pressure, low blood glucose, elevated potassium, chest pain, or allergic reaction. Losartan should not be taken by people who are diabetic and taking aliskiren. Anemia may occur, due to inhibition of the renin–angiotensin system. As with other angiotensin receptor blockers, losartan may injure the liver, although this effect appears to be rare. Electrolyte imbalances may occur in people with kidney problems who take losartan. Adverse outcomes do not differ by sex, age or race.


title: Losartan

text: In October 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a black box warning that losartan can cause fetal toxicity, and should be discontinued as soon as pregnancy is detected. Using losartan while pregnant could result in fetal injury or death.


title: Losartan

text: Overdosing would most likely result in decreased blood pressure, which could manifest as an increased heart rate, dizziness, feeling light headed, or loss of consciousness. Mice studies showed that lethality occurred at about 44 to 170 times the maximum recommended dose after the mice weights were taken into account.


title: Losartan

text: Losartan may have adverse interactions with phenobarbital, rifampin, or fluconazole, possibly inhibiting its blood pressure-lowering effects.


title: Losartan

text: Between November 2018 and September 2019, the FDA announced multiple recalls of tablets containing losartan by Sandoz, Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Hetero Labs, Camber Pharmaceuticals, Legacy Pharmaceutical Packaging, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Vivimed Life Sciences, and Macleods Pharmaceutical Limited due to detection of one of the possible carcinogens N-nitrosodiethylamine, N-methylnitrosobutyric acid, or N-nitroso-N-methyl-4-aminobutyric acid in the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API).


title: Losartan

text: Losartan is a selective, competitive angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AT) antagonist, reducing the end organ responses to angiotensin II. Losartan administration results in a decrease in total peripheral resistance (afterload) and cardiac venous return (preload). All of the physiological effects of angiotensin II, including release of aldosterone, are antagonized in the presence of losartan. Reduction in blood pressure occurs independently of the status of the renin–angiotensin system. As a result of losartan dosing, plasma renin activity increases due to removal of the angiotensin II feedback. Renin is released from the kidneys when there is reduced renal arterial pressure, sympathetic activation, or increased sodium delivery to the distal renal tubule. Renin then acts by converting angiotensinogen to angiotensin I; angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) converts angiotensin I to angiotensin II; angiotensin II causes vasoconstriction and aldosterone release. Aldosterone serves to retain sodium from the distal renal tubule. Sodium retention ultimately results in increased blood pressure. Therefore, the use of angiotensin II receptor antagonists like losartan result in blocking the downstream effect of renin, angiotensin II, and ultimately decreasing blood pressure.


title: Losartan

text: Angiotensin II receptor antagonists include losartan, valsartan, azilsartan, candesartan, eprosartan, irbesartan, olmesartan, and telmisartan. They all have the same mechanism of action and potentially inhibit the actions of angiotensin better than ACE inhibitors, such as lisinopril, because there are other enzymes than ACE that have the capability of producing angiotensin II.


title: Losartan

text: Losartan is a uricosuric. As a specific inhibitor of the urate transporter 1 (SLC22A12, URAT1), losartan blocks the uptake of uric acid into cells, thus leaving more available in the bloodstream to be filtered and excreted by the kidneys. Because losartan can cause hyperkalemia, individuals should not use potassium supplements or salt substitutes containing potassium without appropriate monitoring by a physician.


title: Losartan

text: Losartan is well absorbed following oral administration and undergoes significant first-pass metabolism to produce the 5-carboxylic acid metabolite, designated as EXP3174. About 14% of an oral dosage is converted to this metabolite, which is long-acting (6 to 8 hr) and a noncompetitive antagonist at the AT receptor, contributing to the pharmacological effects of losartan. EXP3174 is 10-40 times more potent in blocking AT receptors than losartan. In addition, the binding to the target enzyme is pH-sensitive, and the negatively-charged tetrazole ring, which is similar in size to the negative carboxylic acid derivative, may contribute to the activity of the drug.


title: Losartan

text: Metabolism is primarily by cytochrome P450 isoenzymes CYP2C9 and CYP3A4. Peak plasma concentrations of losartan and EXP3174 occur about one hour and three to four hours, respectively, after an oral dose. Both losartan and EXP3174 are more than 98% bound to plasma proteins. Losartan is excreted in the urine, and in the feces via bile, as unchanged drug and metabolites. About 4% of an oral dose is excreted unchanged in urine, and about 6% is excreted in urine as the active metabolite. The terminal elimination half lives of losartan and EXP3174 are about 1.5 to 2.5 hours and 3 to 9 hours, respectively.


title: Losartan

text: Losartan and other angiotensin-receptor antagonists exhibit fetal toxicity and should be avoided during pregnancy, particularly in the second and third trimesters.


title: Losartan

text: A hypothesis emerged, in an opinion commentary published in March 2020, that AT1R blockers such as losartan may work to mitigate the symptoms of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Competing hypotheses are that it will make the symptoms worse. A study of this question was started in March 2020.


title: Jennifer Hale

text: Jennifer Hale is a Canadian-American voice actress. She is best known for her work in video game franchises such as "Baldur's Gate", "Mass Effect", "Metal Gear Solid", "BioShock Infinite", "Metroid Prime", "Overwatch", and "". In 2013, she was recognized by Guinness World Records as the most prolific video game voice actress. She is also best known for voicing Sally McKnight (Thorn) the lead vocalist of the rock band The Hex Girls.


title: Jennifer Hale

text: Hale is featured in animation such as "The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest", "The Powerpuff Girls", "", "The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy", "Brandy & Mr. Whiskers", "Totally Spies!", "" and its continuation "The Legend of Korra", "", and "Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?" She also voices Thorn of the Hex Girls in various Scooby-Doo movies and TV episodes, as well as Cinderella and Princess Aurora in various Disney Princess media of the 2000s and 2010s.


title: Jennifer Hale

text: For her role as Commander Shepard, Hale was nominated for the "Best Performance by a Human Female" at the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards. She has been nominated for Performer in a Leading Role at the 18th British Academy Games Awards in 2022 for her performance as Rivet in "".


title: Jennifer Hale

text: Hale was born in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Her mother was what she called "a wandering master's degree pursuer" and her stepfather was a microbiologist. She later told Tom Bissell of "The New Yorker" that her biological father, James Learning, was an outdoorsman who was also a prominent NunatuKavut elder and environmental activist. She would later call for support to free her father, who had advanced cancer, after he was imprisoned for refusing to sign an injunction to stay away from Muskrat Falls in 2017. Hale has a paternal half-sister, Carren Dujela, who works at the University of Victoria. She moved to the U.S. as a child and grew up in Alabama, mainly in Birmingham and Montgomery.


title: Jennifer Hale

text: When Hale was a teenager, she got a voice-over spot at a local radio station, being paid $35 just to talk. In 1982, she graduated from Alabama School of Fine Arts, where she was in the theater department and was interested in being in a rock band. She stated, "I started doing voice-over to pay for life and a PA system and everything else, and ended up that just sort of took over, acting took over." While in high school, she did more voice-over work for commercials, and also worked as a production assistant at age 17. She attended Birmingham–Southern College, where she found the program's style was broader than what she wanted to do, and realized that she was more interested in film acting than theater acting. She graduated with a business degree. She began working as an actress and continued doing voice-overs, commuting frequently between Birmingham and Atlanta, Georgia.


title: Jennifer Hale

text: Hale's first big break in acting was in 1988 for the made-for-television movie "A Father's Homecoming", which was an NBC movie of the week. She was also selected among a group of about six thousand girls in a nationwide search to be in several episodes of the "Santa Barbara" soap opera television series. After doing more regional work, she eventually moved to Los Angeles, where she took on sporadic guest roles typical for young actresses on shows such as "Melrose Place", "ER", and "Charmed". Her first major voice-over role in cartoons was the main character Ivy in "Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?" which was based on the computer game series. As it was her first cartoon, she sought extra classes and training. The show spanned multiple seasons until its final broadcast in 1999. Hale enjoyed the project and noted that it was one of the first network TV cartoons that met the educational requirements. Hale's next animation project was "Skeleton Warriors" where "there were ten cast members, [two] of whom were girls, and we blew stuff up and cartoon maimed each other every week."


title: Jennifer Hale

text: The development of a tie-in video game for "Carmen Sandiego" gave Hale the opportunity to do her first ever voice-over for a video game. She describes her time with the game as a "really confusing experience" as it required a lot more lines and time than the show did. Her next major video game was with BioWare on their "Baldur's Gate" series on various roles, which would eventually lead to large roles in "Mass Effect" and other titles. She has been involved in many other cartoons. In 1994, she was cast as Felicia Hardy/Black Cat in "Spider-Man", the first in a long line of Marvel Comics characters she has voiced. She plays Cinderella and Princess Aurora in various Disney projects, as well as voicing Dory from Finding Nemo throughout the Disney parks, filling in for Ellen DeGeneres. In 2003, Hale voiced Mrs. Little in the short-lived "Stuart Little" TV series.


title: Jennifer Hale

text: Hale has provided the voice of lead character Sam and rival character Mandy in the French- and Canadian-produced animated television series "Totally Spies!". In a 2004 interview, she said "I'm so happy that David (Michel, creator and producer), Jamie (Simone, voice director) and everyone gave me the opportunity to be part of the show, it's been one of my absolute favorite experiences." She describes Sam as "smart and adventurous, but now you see more of her wacky side and her girly side as well," and Mandy as a "total snot, which is fun too." She voiced the two characters as well as others for the show's six seasons and its feature movie.


title: Jennifer Hale

text: Hale voiced Bastila Shan in "" and returned for a brief appearance in the sequel "". She later voiced the female version of Jaden Korr in "". In the BioWare MMOPRG "", Hale voiced the Republic Trooper Female as well as the recurring NPC Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan. Hale interpreted the voices of Fall-From-Grace and Deionarra in the role-playing computer game "". She is also known as the "voice" of Samus Aran in all three games in the "" trilogy, providing grunts and screams as the player moves and takes damage. Hale is also known for playing several voices in the "Metal Gear Solid" series (Naomi Hunter in "Metal Gear Solid" and "", and Emma Emmerich in "").


title: Jennifer Hale

text: Hale was also the voice of Jean Grey in "Wolverine and the X-Men" and "" as well as a small role in "". She also voiced British mercenary Jennifer Mui in "" and "". In 2011, she was the voice of Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) on "". She provided the voice of Leah in "Diablo III", and appeared as Rosalind Lutece in "BioShock Infinite". Hale also played the role of Krem in BioWare's "".


title: Jennifer Hale

text: Hale was selected to voice Commander Shepard, the main player character in the "Mass Effect" series. She had said that she is very invested in helping to "create" the stories of video games, though she herself is not a gamer. Although Hale does object to certain lines if they seem out-of-character in other works, she prefers not to mess with the words for Shepard and BioWare. Although reports showed that only 18% of players chose to play as a female Shepard in "Mass Effect 2", vocal support for her character was high, leading to the fan-driven nickname "FemShep" and an e-mail campaign to put her character on the cover of "Mass Effect 3". She was nominated for "Best Performance by a Human Female" at the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards, in 2012, she was nominated again for "Mass Effect 3".


title: Jennifer Hale

text: In an interview with "The Geek Forge" regarding her influences, Hale cited voice actors such as Dee Bradley Baker, Grey DeLisle, Phil LaMarr, Tress MacNeille, Kath Soucie, Frank Welker, and April Winchell, with emphasis on LaMarr. She also admires the work of actors Judi Dench, Edward James Olmos, and Mary McDonnell.


title: Jennifer Hale

text: Hale's peers and critics have noted her versatility in her roles: Michael Abbott, a professor at Wabash College who blogs about video games, said that she has made herself "untraceable" despite having voiced dozens of roles. Journalist Tom Bissell noted that she has been referred as "a kind of Meryl Streep of the form". In an interview, she said, "I love the anonymity. I could walk through Comic Con, and no matter how many people who might be a fan of what I do, we're in proximity and no one knew. I'm invisible. If I'd have done as many on-camera roles as I've done voiceover, I couldn't go to the grocery store in peace." She stated in the same interview, "As cheesy as it sounds, the player is the star of the game. That's the beauty of games—that it's you that inhabits it. It's not about someone else, it's about that you get to be that person, and if I do my job right, I as a person disappear. Your experience is primary."


title: Jennifer Hale

text: Hale lives in the Los Angeles area. She has a son. She has several pets and enjoys the outdoors, stating that she might have become an architect because she likes to redo houses. She has said that she was not allowed to watch cartoons as a child, and had not played any video games until her 2011 interview with Tom Bissell for "The New Yorker", in which she played "Mass Effect" for the first time. She likes horses and has mentioned being part of the local evacuation response team that rescues horses from advancing wildfires.


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: Immortals is a 2011 American fantasy action film directed by Tarsem Singh and starring Henry Cavill, Stephen Dorff, Luke Evans, John Hurt, Isabel Lucas, Kellan Lutz, Freida Pinto, Joseph Morgan, Daniel Sharman, and Mickey Rourke. The film was previously named "Dawn of War" and "War of the Gods" before being officially named "Immortals". It uses motifs of the Greek myths of Theseus, the return of the Heraclids, the Minotaur, and the Titanomachy, but the plot does not resemble any coherent narrative originating from Greek mythology.


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: Principal photography began in Montreal on April 5, 2010. The film was released in 2D and in 3D (using the Real D 3D and Digital 3D formats) on November 11, 2011 by Relativity Media, becoming a commercial success at the box office by grossing over $226 million. Premiering in Los Angeles on November 8, 2011, the film received mixed reviews, with critics praising Tarsem's direction and visuals, acting, ensemble cast, action sequences, production and costume design, and music score, but criticized the film's storytelling and the lack of character development.


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: The Twelve Olympians imprisoned the Titans beneath Mount Tartarus, losing the powerful Epirus Bow. King Hyperion searches for the bow to release the Titans. Hyperion attempts to capture the virgin oracle Phaedra, to use her dreams and visions to find it. He heard that a man named Theseus will slay him.


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: Villagers prepare to flee Hyperion's army, among them Theseus, a warrior trained by the Old Man, who says Theseus has been chosen by the gods. His mother Aethra was raped by Zeus, and Theseus was born, so they are "outcasts" forced to remain behind by Lysander and his Athenian soldiers. Theseus battles them until General Helios discharges Lysander for his actions. Lysander departs and offers his service and the village's location to Hyperion, who accepts, and maims Lysander as a traitor. Hyperion's forces attack Theseus' village, murdering Aethra, and capturing Theseus.


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: The Old Man is Zeus. He commands his fellow gods not to interfere in mortal affairs as gods. Unless the Titans are released, they must have faith in mankind's free will to defeat Hyperion. Theseus is manacled to the thief Stavros. Phaedra, held captive nearby, sees a vision of Theseus supporting Hyperion. Phaedra and her sisters, assaulted by Hyperion's guards, kill them, provoking a riot. She uses the chaos to escape with Theseus, Stavros, and other slaves. They pursue Hyperion, but are overwhelmed by Hyperion's forces when trying to seize a boat. Poseidon, unseen by Zeus dives from Olympus into the ocean causing a tidal wave that wipes out Hyperion's men. Afterward, Phaedra sees a vision of Theseus standing near a shrouded body. She says Theseus must return home to bury his mother, Aethra.


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: This done, Theseus discovers the Epirus Bow in nearby rock. He frees it, but is attacked by Hyperion's henchman the Beast, whose armour resembles a Minotaur. Theseus kills him and uses the Bow to kill his allies' captors before collapsing from poisoned scratches inflicted by the Beast. Phaedra tends Theseus and falls in love with him. She begs him to take her virginity, stripping her of the visions she deems a curse and they have sex. The group returns to Phaedra's temple. Hyperion and his forces are away at Mount Tartarus. They discover Hyperion was torturing Phaedra's sister oracles to force them to tell where Phaedra is but they refused. At the temple, Stavros and Theseus are lured into an ambush. The bow is seized by Hyperion's hyena. Ares directly intervenes to save Theseus, killing the attackers. Athena then provides them with horses to reach Mount Tartarus. Zeus suddenly descends and kills Ares for disobeying his law, he spares Athena's life because she did not physically interfere like Ares did. Before ascending with Athena, Zeus tells Theseus that he and his allies will receive no more aid from the gods as he must justify the faith that Zeus has in him alone.


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: Hyperion now has the Epirus Bow. Theseus, Stavros, and Phaedra gallop to Mount Tartarus. Theseus warns King Cassander of Hyperion's plans to destroy the kingdom's children, make their future generations his own descendants, and release the Titans, but Cassander dismisses the gods as myth, intending to negotiate peace. Next day, Hyperion uses the Bow to breach the city's immense wall, killing General Helios and the wall's defenders. Theseus rallies the Hellenic army and leads them against Hyperion's forces, killing Lysander. Hyperion storms through, kills Cassander, and before Stavros and Theseus can stop him, uses the Epirus Bow to blast open the mountain and free the Titans. The blast stuns the mortals and Hyperion drops the Bow. Stavros takes it up, but is slain. Zeus and the gods descend to battle the Titans, and urge Theseus to fight Hyperion. Zeus destroys the Epirus Bow with Ares' Warhammer. The gods prove more powerful than the Titans, but are overwhelmed, and all are killed except Zeus, and Poseidon, badly wounded. Theseus kills Hyperion, and Athena dies, begging Zeus to not abandon men. Zeus collapses Mount Tartarus on the Titans and ascends to Olympus with Athena's body and the mortally wounded Theseus. The collapsing mountain wipes out Hyperion's men.


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: Theseus' story becomes legend. Phaedra has since given birth to Theseus' son Acamas after being impregnated by him. The Old Man tells Acamas that he will fight against evil. Acamas sees the sky filled with Olympians and Titans, and Theseus, in battle.


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: This film incorporates some elements from classical Greek myths and was filmed using 3D technology. Director Tarsem Singh said that he was planning an action film using Renaissance painting styles. He then went on to say that the film is "Basically, Caravaggio meets "Fight Club". It's a really hardcore action film done in Renaissance painting style. I want to see how that goes; it's turned into something really cool. I'm going for a very contemporary look on top of that so I'm kind of going with, you know, Renaissance time with electricity. So it's a bit like Baz Luhrmann doing "Romeo + Juliet" in Mexico; it's just taking a particular Greek tale and half (make it contemporary) and telling it." The film had a production budget of $80 million ($75 million after tax rebates) to $120 million and cost "at least" $35 million to market.


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: The score for the film was composed, produced and conducted by Trevor Morris and has been released on November 8, 2011.


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: The film was premiered in Los Angeles on November 8, 2011, and was released on November 11, 2011 in the United States.


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: In North America, it was released on November 11, 2011. "Immortals" had a $1.4 million midnight showings and then grossed a total of $14.8 million on its opening day, topping the daily box office. It then finished the weekend of November 11–13, 2011 at #1 with $32.2 million, ranking as Relativity Media's biggest opening weekend to date, against newcomers "J. Edgar" and "Jack and Jill". 3D showings accounted for a substantial 66% of the weekend gross. The film's audience was 60 percent male, 75 percent under the age of 35.


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: Outside North America, it earned $38 million overseas from 35 countries on its opening weekend. Its highest-grossing territories were Russia ($8.2 million), China ($5.7 million) and South Korea ($4.5 million). The film has earned $83,504,017 in the United States and Canada and $143,400,000 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $226,904,017.


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 49% based on 139 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's critical consensus states: "The melding of real sets, CG work, and Tarsem's signature style produces fireworks, though the same can't be said for "Immortals"' slack, boring storytelling." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 46 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, rising to a "B+" among viewers under 25.


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: In an affectionate but unfavorable review, Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four, writing, ""Immortals" is without doubt the best-looking awful movie you will ever see," while "The Guardian" gave the film three stars out of five, commenting, "Theseus battles the Titans in a cheerfully idiotic mythological yarn ballasted by Tarsem's eyecatching image-making". Todd McCarthy of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote, "Thuddingly ponderous, heavy-handed and lacking a single moment that evinces any relish for movie-making, this lurch back from the "history" of "300" into the mists of Greek myth is a drag in nearly every way, from the particulars of physical torture to the pounding score that won't quit."


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: Of those who praised the picture, it received an honorable mention from MTV as one of the year's best films as well as making Guy Lodge's top twenty films of 2011 list on HitFix. Furthermore, it was on TORO Magazine's Top Ten list as well as "Glasgow To The Movies" Top Ten Films of 2011. Marc Eastman, of "Are You Screening", named "Immortals" the #3 film of 2011. It also was nominated for several Saturn Awards, including Best Fantasy Film. The film is now viewed as a cult hit and was recently named as one of the top ten underrated fantasy films of the decade by Screen Rant. It was also named one of Vocal Media’s Five Most Under Appreciated Fantasy Films in 2018.


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: "Immortals" was released on DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and Blu-ray 3D on March 5, 2012 in the United Kingdom and on March 6, 2012 in the United States and Canada. In its first week of release 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment sold more than 1.2 million units of the film making it the week's #1 film in Home Entertainment. It sold 648,947 DVD units for a total of $11,116,462 and 926,964 Blu-ray Disc units for a total of $21,310,902 for the week ending March 11, 2012. An additional 100,000 3D units sold totaling almost $40,000,000 in home entertainment sales in its first week of release in the United States.


title: Immortals (2011 film)

text: Archaia Press released a graphic novel tie-in titled "Immortals: Gods and Heroes", the hardcover book featured new stories that expanded on the universe established in the film.


title: Paul Buchheit

text: Paul T. Buchheit is an American computer engineer and entrepreneur who created Gmail. He developed the original prototype of Google AdSense as part of his work on Gmail. He also suggested Google's former company motto "Don't be evil" in a 2000 meeting on company values, after the motto was initially coined in 1999 by engineer Amit Patel.


title: Paul Buchheit

text: Buchheit grew up in New York. He attended Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio where he studied computer science and rowed crew.


title: Paul Buchheit

text: Buchheit worked at Intel and later became the 23rd employee at Google. At Google he began developing Gmail in 2001, with its innovations in search and storage. He also prompted what would become AdSense. Leaving Google in 2006, Buchheit started FriendFeed, which was launched in 2007 with partner Bret Taylor. FriendFeed was acquired by Facebook in 2009 in a private transaction that resulted in Buchheit being a Facebook employee.


title: Paul Buchheit

text: In 2010, Buchheit left Facebook to become a partner at the investment firm Y Combinator. From 2006 (when he started investing) until 2008, Buchheit invested about $1.21 million in 32 different companies. and he left Facebook to become a full-time angel investor.


title: Paul Buchheit

text: He continues to oversee angel investments of his own in "about 40" startups (by his own estimate) and is active with Y Combinator.


title: Paul Buchheit

text: In 2009, Buchheit set up Google Moderator to crowdsource ideas for the causes (501(c)3 non-profits) should benefit from his financial support. To quote him:


title: Paul Buchheit

text: Buchheit has donated to various health organizations since the death of his 33-year-old brother from pancreatic cancer.


title: Paul Buchheit

text: Buchheit has stated that he believes society has the technology and resources to provide adequate food, housing, education, and healthcare for everyone, using only a fraction of available labor and resources. In his view, this implies it is possible to put an end to wage slavery. Buchheit further stated:


title: Paul Buchheit

text: Buchheit won the 2011 "The Economist" innovation awards for the "Computing and telecommunications" field.


title: Alan Menken

text: Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer, best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores and songs for "The Little Mermaid" (1989), "Beauty and the Beast" (1991), "Aladdin" (1992), and "Pocahontas" (1995) have each won him two Academy Awards. He also composed the scores and songs for "Little Shop of Horrors" (1986), "Newsies" (1992), "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1996), "Hercules" (1997), "Home on the Range" (2004), "Enchanted" (2007), "Tangled" (2010), and "Disenchanted" (2022), among others. His accolades include eight Academy Awards, becoming the second most prolific Oscar winner in the music categories after Alfred Newman (who has 9 Oscars) a Tony Award, eleven Grammy Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, and a Daytime Emmy Award. Menken is one of seventeen people to have won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony ("an EGOT"). He is the only person to have won a Razzie, an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony ("REGOT").


title: Alan Menken

text: He is also known for his work in musical theater for Broadway and elsewhere. Some of these are based on his Disney films, but other stage hits include "Little Shop of Horrors" (1982), "A Christmas Carol" (1994), and "Sister Act" (2009).


title: Alan Menken

text: Menken has collaborated with such lyricists as Lynn Ahrens, Howard Ashman, Jack Feldman, Tim Rice, Glenn Slater, Stephen Schwartz, and David Zippel.


title: Alan Menken

text: Alan Irwin Menken was born on July 22, 1949, at French Hospital in Manhattan, to Judith and Norman Menken. His father was a boogie-woogie piano-playing dentist, and his mother was an actress, dancer and playwright. His family was Jewish. Menken developed an interest in music at an early age, taking piano and violin lessons. He began to compose at an early age. At age nine, at the New York Federation of Music Clubs Junior Composers Contest, his original composition "Bouree" was rated Superior and Excellent by the judges.


title: Alan Menken

text: He attended New Rochelle High School in New Rochelle, New York, and graduated in 1967. Menken remembers: "I'd make up my own Bach fugues and Beethoven sonatas because I was bored with the piano and I didn't want to practice; so I'd go off on tangents". He then enrolled at New York University. He graduated with a degree in musicology in 1971 from the university's Steinhardt School. Menken recalled: "First, I was pre-med. I thought I'd be a dentist like my dad. Finally, I got a degree in music, but I didn't care about musicology. It wasn't until I joined BMI Workshop ... under Lehman Engel, and walked into a room with other composers that I knew this was it." Menken noted that "Before college, I was writing songs to further my dream of being the next Bob Dylan. A lot of guitar songs – I was composing on piano before that." After college, he attended the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.


title: Alan Menken

text: After graduating, Menken's plan was to become either a rock star or a recording artist. His interest in writing musicals increased when he joined the Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) Musical Theatre Workshop and was mentored by Lehman Engel. From 1974 to 1978, he showcased various BMI workshop works, such as "Midnight", "Apartment House" (lyric by Muriel Robinson), "Conversations with Pierre"," Harry the Rat" and "Messiah on Mott Street" (lyrics by David Zippel).


title: Alan Menken

text: According to Menken, during this period, he "worked as a ballet and modern dance accompanist, a musical director for club acts, a jingle writer, arranger, a songwriter for "Sesame Street" and a vocal coach". He performed his material at clubs like The Ballroom, Reno Sweeny and Tramps.


title: Alan Menken

text: In 1976, John Wilson reported for "The New York Times" that members of Engel's BMI Workshop began performing as part of the "Broadway at the Ballroom" series: "The opening workshop program ... featured Maury Yeston and Alan Menken, both playing their piano accompaniment and singing songs they have written for potential musicals." Wilson reviewed a performance at the Ballroom in 1977 where Menken accompanied a singer: "In the current cabaret world, a piano accompanist is no longer expected to merely play piano for a singer. More and more, pianists can be heard joining in vocally, harmonizing with the singer, creating a background of shouts and exclamations or even doing brief passages of solo singing."


title: Alan Menken

text: Menken contributed material to revues like "New York's Back in Town", "Big Apple Country", "The Present Tense" (1977), "Real Life Funnies" (Off-Broadway, 1981), "Diamonds" (Off-Broadway, 1984), and "Personals" (Off-Off-Broadway, 1985). His revue "Patch, Patch, Patch" ran at the West Bank Cafe in New York City in 1979 and featured Chip Zien. The "New York Times" reviewer Mel Gussow wrote: "The title song ... refers to a life's passage. According to Alan Menken ... after age 30 it is a downhill plunge."


title: Alan Menken

text: Menken wrote several shows that were not produced, including "Atina, Evil Queen of the Galaxy" (1980), with lyrics by Steve Brown. He also wrote "The Thorn" with lyrics by Brown, which was commissioned by Divine in 1980. This was a parody of the film "The Rose", but they could not raise the money to have it produced. He collaborated with Howard Ashman in an uncompleted musical called "Babe" (), with Tom Eyen in "Kicks: The Showgirl Musical" (1984), and with David Rogers in "The Dream in Royal Street" (), which was an adaptation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Menken contributed music for the film "The Line" (1980), directed by Robert J. Siegel.


title: Alan Menken

text: Menken finally achieved success as a composer when playwright Howard Ashman chose him and Engel to write the music for his musical adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's novel "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater". The musical opened in 1979 at the WPA Theater to excellent reviews and modest box office. It transferred after several months to the Off-Broadway Entermedia Theater, where it ran for an additional six weeks.


title: Alan Menken

text: Menken and Ashman wrote their next musical, "Little Shop of Horrors", for a cast of only 9 performers, including a puppeteer. This musical is based on the 1960 black comedy film "The Little Shop of Horrors". It opened at WPA Theater in 1982 to warm reviews. It moved to the Off Broadway Orpheum Theatre in the East Village, Manhattan, where it ran for five years. The musical set the box-office record for highest grossing Off-Broadway show of all time. It toured around the world, won theater awards and was adapted as a 1986 musical film starring Rick Moranis that earned Menken and Ashman their first Oscar nomination for the song "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space". For his body of work in musical theatre, he was awarded the BMI Career Achievement Award in 1983.


title: Alan Menken

text: In 1987, Menken and lyricist David Spencer's adaptation "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz", based on the 1959 novel of the same name, was produced in Philadelphia. After substantial re-writes, it was produced in 2015 in Montreal. In 1992, the WPA Theatre produced Menken's "Weird Romance", also with lyrics by Spencer. Menken's musical based on the Charles Dickens novella "A Christmas Carol", with lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and book by Mike Ockrent, debuted at Madison Square Garden's Paramount Theater in 1994. The show proved successful and was an annual New York holiday event.


title: Alan Menken

text: On the strength of the success of "Little Shop of Horrors", Menken and Ashman were hired by Walt Disney Studios to write the music for "The Little Mermaid" (1989). The challenge was to create an animated musical film of this Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale that could sit alongside the Disney films "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Cinderella". "The Little Mermaid" opened to critical and commercial success and signaled a new Disney era called the Disney Renaissance. The film gave them their first Oscar win: Best Song for the song "Under the Sea". Menken also won the 1989 Oscar for Best Score.


title: Alan Menken

text: Menken and Ashman's "Beauty and the Beast" garnered them three 1991 Oscar nominations for Best Song, winning for its title song. Menken won another Oscar for Best Score. The two were working on "Aladdin" at the time of Ashman's death in 1991. Ashman wrote only three songs in the film and Menken collaborated with Tim Rice, who was then working on "The Lion King", to write the rest of the songs for the film. The film won an Oscar in 1992 for Best Song, "A Whole New World". Menken also won the Oscar for Best Score. Menken's live action musical film "Newsies", with lyrics by Jack Feldman, was released in 1992.


title: Alan Menken

text: Three more animated musical films followed. Menken collaborated with Stephen Schwartz for "Pocahontas", for which the two won two Oscars: Best Song and Best Musical or Comedy Score. In 1996, the same musical team created the songs, and Menken, the score, for "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". In 1997, Menken reunited with his early collaborator, David Zippel, for his last film in the era, "Hercules".


title: Alan Menken

text: Menken also wrote the music for the Michael J. Fox vehicle "Life with Mikey" (1993), the holiday film "Noel" (2004) and "Mirror Mirror" (2012). His other film scores for Disney have included "Home on the Range" (2004), the Tim Allen remake of "The Shaggy Dog" (2006), "Enchanted" (2007), and "Tangled" (2010).


title: Alan Menken

text: In March 2017, Disney released a live-action adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast", directed by Bill Condon, with the songs from the 1991 film and new material by Menken and Rice. Menken collaborated with Benj Pasek and Justin Paul on writing new songs for the 2019 live-action version of "Aladdin", directed by Guy Ritchie.


title: Alan Menken

text: Menken is also working on new music for a live-action film adaptation of "The Little Mermaid", directed by Rob Marshall, with longtime "The Little Mermaid" fan Lin-Manuel Miranda, whom Menken knew since the former's childhood, as Miranda went to the same school as Menken's niece. Menken will also once again be working with Stephen Schwartz to write new songs for "Disenchanted", the sequel to "Enchanted", and for a remake of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", which Menken will score. Menken is also working alongside former Disney chief creative officer John Lasseter on a project at Skydance Animation. On May 20, 2020, the project was revealed to be Vicky Jenson's "Spellbound". Menken will co-write songs for "Spellbound" alongside Glenn Slater, with whom he worked on "Home on the Range" and "Tangled". Menken is also reportedly attached to a sequel to "Aladdin".


title: Alan Menken

text: With eight Academy Awards, only composer Alfred Newman (nine wins), art director Cedric Gibbons (11 wins) and Walt Disney (22 wins) have received more Oscars than Menken. He is tied for fourth place with late costume designer Edith Head, and currently holds the record for the most wins for a living person.


title: Alan Menken

text: Menken debuted on Broadway with a musical theatre adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast" that opened in 1994 and ran for 13 years before closing in 2007. In 1997, he collaborated with lyricist Tim Rice on a musical, "King David", based on the biblical character, which was performed in a concert version on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre. "Little Shop of Horrors" played on Broadway from 2003 to 2004.


title: Alan Menken

text: He next created the stage version of "The Little Mermaid", which played on Broadway from 2008 to 2009 and for which he received a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Score. Menken's stage adaptation of "Sister Act" premiered in London in 2009, and opened on Broadway in 2011. He was nominated for another Tony Award for Best Score. Menken received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010. In December 2010, he was a guest on the NPR quiz show "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!".


title: Alan Menken

text: In 2012, Menken won a Tony Award for Best Score for his musical adaptation of "Newsies", which ran until 2014. He also wrote the music for "Leap of Faith", which had a brief run on Broadway in 2012. His stage adaptation of "Aladdin" opened on Broadway in 2014, earning him another Tony nomination for Best Score. In 2013, he was a guest at the annual Junior Theatre Festival in Atlanta, Georgia, and was honored with the Junior Theater Festival Award. He gave a concert there, including music that was cut from various productions, while talking about his creative process.


title: Alan Menken

text: Menken's stage adaptation of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" played at La Jolla Playhouse, California, in 2014. "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" was revived in Montreal in 2015, and "A Bronx Tale: The Musical" played at the Paper Mill Playhouse in 2016. Menken is currently working on stage musical adaptations of "Night at the Museum" and "Animal Farm".


title: Alan Menken

text: As of 2019, Menken is reuniting with his "Newsies" creators Jack Feldman and Harvey Fierstein to develop a new musical called "Greetings from Niagara Falls". A reading was held in January 2019; however, there is no word on future plans for the project at this time.


title: Alan Menken

text: From 1989 to 1990, Menken and Howard Ashman wrote songs for the popular puppet TV show "Sesame Street". In 2008, Menken said that his work on "Sesame Street" was "pathetic money, but it still had some prestige to it. It was on the air and [he] was getting some royalties". The duo also wrote a song titled "Wonderful Ways to Say No" for the 1990 animated anti-drug special "Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue".


title: Alan Menken

text: In 2015, Menken co-composed the score for the musical television series "Galavant" alongside Christopher Lennertz, reuniting him with "Tangled" screenwriter Dan Fogelman. Menken also co-wrote songs for the series alongside Glenn Slater. The series lasted two seasons, first airing on January 4, 2015, and last airing on January 31, 2016. In 2017, Menken and Slater returned to write songs for the animated series "Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure", which is set after the events of "Tangled". The series ended in 2020, after three seasons. On July 26, 2020, Menken and Slater won the Daytime Emmy Award for Original Song in a Children's, Young Adult or Animated Program for the song titled "Waiting in the Wings".


title: Alan Menken

text: Menken wrote songs for a prospective prequel/spin-off series to 2017's "Beauty and the Beast" titled "Little Town", which would be centered on Gaston and LeFou. The series would be released on Disney's streaming service, Disney+, and Menken would also be an executive-producer on the series. In February 2022, it was reported that the series would not go forward for now.


title: Alan Menken

text: Menken was introduced to ballet dancer Janis Roswick while working with the Downtown Ballet Company. They have been married since November 1972 and live in North Salem, New York. They have two daughters, Anna Menken and Nora Menken.


title: Alan Menken

text: Alan Menken has received eight Academy Awards (and nineteen nominations), eleven Grammy Awards (and twenty-four nominations), one Tony Award (and four nominations), and one Daytime Emmy Award. He has also received seven Golden Globe Awards (and sixteen nominations), one Drama Desk Award (and five nominations), and three Outer Critics Awards.


title: Alan Menken

text: He was made a Disney Legend in 2002 and was the recipient of a Richard Kirk Career Achievement Award in 1998, a Freddie G. Award for Musical Excellence in 2013, and The Oscar Hammerstein Award in 2013, among others.


title: Alan Menken

text: The American Film Institute included the title song from the film "Beauty and the Beast", in the AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs. Five other songs from his Disney films were nominated:


title: Alan Menken

text: In 2006, AFI listed its 25 greatest movie musicals, with "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) ranked 22nd. It is the only animated musical film on the list. Four of his other film musicals were also nominated:


title: Alan Menken

text: In 2019, Menken finally accepted the Razzie Award for "Worst Original Song" he won at the 13th Golden Raspberry Awards (1993) for "High Times, Hard Times" from "Newsies" (1992), becoming the first person to win a Razzie and Oscar in the same year. Menken wrote the music for the song, and shared the award with lyricist Jack Feldman.


title: Alan Menken

text: In 2020, Menken reached EGOT status when he won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song in a Children's, Young Adult or Animated Program for co-writing the song "Waiting in the Wings" for "Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure".


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: The Tuath(a) Dé Danann (, meaning "the folk of the goddess Danu"), also known by the earlier name Tuath Dé ("tribe of the gods"), are a supernatural race in Irish mythology. Many of them are thought to represent deities of pre-Christian Gaelic Ireland.


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: The Tuath Dé are often depicted as kings, queens, druids, bards, warriors, heroes, healers and craftsmen who have supernatural powers. They dwell in the Otherworld but interact with humans and the human world. They are associated with the "sídhe": prominent ancient burial mounds such as Brú na Bóinne, which are entrances to Otherworld realms. Their traditional rivals are the Fomorians (Fomoire), who might represent the destructive powers of nature, and whom the Tuath Dé defeat in the Battle of Mag Tuired. Prominent members of the Tuath Dé include The Dagda ("the great god"); The Morrígan ("the great queen" or "phantom queen"); Lugh; Nuada; Aengus; Brigid; Manannán; Dian Cecht the healer; and Goibniu the smith, one of the "Trí Dé Dána" ("three gods of craft"). Several of the Tuath Dé are cognate with ancient Celtic deities: Lugh with Lugus, Brigit with Brigantia, Nuada with Nodons, and Ogma with Ogmios.


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: Medieval texts about the Tuath Dé were written by Christians. Sometimes they explained the Tuath Dé as fallen angels who were neither wholly good nor evil, or ancient people who became highly skilled in magic, but several writers acknowledged that at least some of them had been gods. Some of them have multiple names, but in the tales they often appear to be different characters. Originally, these probably represented different aspects of the same deity, while others were regional names.


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: The Old Irish word "tuath" (plural "tuatha") means "tribe, folk, people"; "dé" is the genitive case of "día" and, depending on context, can mean "god, gods, goddess" or more broadly "supernatural being, object of worship". In the earliest writings, the mythical race are referred to as the "Tuath Dé", "tribe of gods", or "Tuatha Dé", "tribes of gods". In the "Lebor Bretnach" their name is translated into Latin as "plebes deorum", "god-folk". However, Irish monks also began using the term "Tuath Dé" to refer to the Israelites, with the meaning "People of God". Apparently to avoid confusion with the Israelites, writers began to refer to the mythical race as the "Tuath(a) Dé Danann" or "Tuath(a) Dé Donann". The Old Irish pronunciation is and the Modern Irish pronunciation . This is generally translated "folk of the goddess Danu". It may also have been a way of humanizing them: instead of 'god-folk' they were now the folk of a particular goddess. Some of the Tuath Dé are occasionally called the "clann Eladan", "children of art".


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: "Danann" is generally believed to be the genitive of a female name, for which the nominative case is not attested. It has been reconstructed as "*Danu", of which "Anu" (genitive "Anann") may be an alternative form. "Anu" is called "mother of the Irish gods" by Cormac mac Cuilennáin. This may be linked to the Welsh mythical figure Dôn. Hindu mythology also has a goddess called Danu, who may be an Indo-European parallel. However, this reconstruction is not universally accepted. It has also been suggested that "Danann" is a conflation of "dán" ("skill, craft") and the goddess name "Anann". The name is also found as "Donann" and "Domnann", which may point to the origin being proto-Celtic "*don", meaning "earth" (compare the Old Irish word for earth, "doman"). Tírechán described the "sídh" folk as "dei terreni", "earthly gods". The name could be cognate with the mythical Fir Domnann and the British Dumnonii.


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: The Tuatha Dé Danann are described as a supernatural race, much like idealized humans, who are immune from ageing and sickness, and who have powers of magic. The powers most often attributed to the Tuath Dé are control over the weather and the elements, and the ability to shapeshift themselves and other things. They are also said to control the fertility of the land; the tale "De Gabáil in t-Sída" says the first Gaels had to establish friendship with the Tuath Dé before they could raise crops and herds.


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: They live in the Otherworld, which is described as either a parallel world or a heavenly land beyond the sea or under the earth's surface. Many of them are associated with specific places in the landscape, especially the "sídh" mounds; the ancient burial mounds and passage tombs which are entrances to Otherworld realms. The Tuath Dé can hide themselves with a "féth fíada" ('magic mist') and appear to humans only when they wish to.


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: In some tales, such as "Baile in Scáil", a king receives affirmation of his legitimacy from one of the Tuath Dé. In other tales, a king's right to rule is affirmed by an encounter with an otherworldly woman. It has been argued that the inauguration of Irish kings originally represented his ritual marriage to the goddess of the land (see sovereignty goddess). The Tuath Dé can also bring doom to unrightful kings.


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: The medieval writers who wrote about the Tuath Dé were Christians. Sometimes they explained the Tuath Dé as fallen angels; neutral angels who sided neither with God nor Lucifer and were punished by being forced to dwell on the Earth; or humans who had become highly skilled in magic. However, several writers acknowledged that at least some of them had been gods.


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: There is strong evidence that many of the Tuath Dé represent the gods of Irish paganism. The name itself means "tribe of gods", and the ninth-century "Scél Tuain meic Cairill" (Tale of Tuan mac Cairill) speaks of the "Tuath Dé ocus Andé", "tribe of gods and un-gods". Goibniu, Credne and Luchta are called the "trí dé dáno", "three gods of craft". In "Sanas Cormaic" (Cormac's Glossary), Anu is called "mother of the Irish gods", Nét a "god of war", and Brigit a "goddess of poets" whose father is the Dagda; his own name meaning "the great god". Writing in the seventh century, Tírechán explained the "sídh" folk as "earthly gods" (Latin "dei terreni"), while "Fiacc's Hymn" says the Irish adored the "sídh" before the coming of Saint Patrick. Goibniu, Dian Cécht the physician, and Flidais the mistress of animals are invoked in incantations, further evidence that they were seen as supernatural powers. Several of the Tuath Dé are cognate with ancient Celtic deities: Lugh with Lugus, Brigit with Brigantia, Nuada with Nodons, and Ogma with Ogmios.


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: Nevertheless, John Carey notes that it is not wholly accurate to describe all of them as gods in the medieval literature itself. He argues that the literary Tuath Dé are "sui generis", and suggests "immortals" might be a more neutral term.


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: The Tuatha Dé Danann were descended from Nemed, leader of a previous wave of inhabitants of Ireland. They came from four cities to the north of Ireland—Falias, Gorias, Murias and Finias—where they taught their skills in the sciences, including architecture, the arts, and magic, including necromancy. According to "Lebor Gabála Érenn", they came to Ireland "in dark clouds" and "landed on the mountains of [the] Conmaicne Rein in Connachta", otherwise Sliabh an Iarainn, "and they brought a darkness over the sun for three days and three nights". They immediately burnt the ships "so that they should not think of retreating to them, and the smoke and the mist that came from the vessels filled the neighbouring land and air. Therefore it was conceived that they had arrived in clouds of mist".


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: From them are the Tuatha Dé and Andé, whose origin the learned do not know, but that it seems likely to them that they came from heaven, on account of their intelligence and for the excellence of their knowledge.


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: Led by king Nuada, they fought the First Battle of Magh Tuireadh on the west coast, in which they defeated and displaced the native Fir Bolg, who then inhabited Ireland. In the battle, Nuada lost an arm to their champion, Sreng. Since Nuada was no longer "unblemished", he could not continue as king and was replaced by the half-Fomorian Bres, who turned out to be a tyrant. The physician Dian Cecht replaced Nuada's arm with a working silver one and he was reinstated as king. However, Dian Cecht's son Miach was dissatisfied with the replacement so he recited the spell, ""ault fri halt dí & féith fri féth"" (joint to joint of it and sinew to sinew), which caused flesh to grow over the silver prosthesis over the course of nine days and nights. However, in a fit of jealous rage Dian Cecht slew his own son. Because of Nuada's restoration as the leader, Bres complained to his family and his father, Elatha, who sent him to seek assistance from Balor, king of the Fomorians.


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: The Tuatha Dé Danann then fought the Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh against the Fomorians. Nuada was killed by the Fomorian king Balor's poisonous eye, but Balor was killed by Lugh, champion of the Tuatha Dé, and who then took over as king.


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: A third battle was fought against a subsequent wave of invaders, the Milesians, from the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula (present-day Galicia and Northern Portugal), descendants of Míl Espáine (who are thought to represent the Goidelic Celts). The Milesians encountered three Tuatha Dé Danann goddesses, Ériu, Banba and Fodla, who asked that the island be named after them; Ériu is the origin of the modern name Éire, and Banba and Fodla are still sometimes used as poetic names for Ireland.


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: Their three husbands, Mac Cuill, Mac Cecht and Mac Gréine, were kings of the Tuatha Dé Danann at that time, and asked for a truce of three days, during which the Milesians would lie at anchor nine waves' distance from the shore. The Milesians complied, but the Tuatha Dé Danann created a magical storm in an attempt to drive them away. The Milesian poet Amergin calmed the sea with his verse, then his people landed and defeated the Tuatha Dé Danann at Tailtiu. When Amergin was called upon to divide the land between the Tuatha Dé Danann and his own people, he cleverly allotted the portion above ground to the Milesians and the portion underground to the Tuatha Dé Danann. The Tuatha Dé Danann were led underground into the Sidhe mounds by Manannán mac Lir and Tir na nOg onto a flowery plain/plain of honey attested to in the Voyage of Bran.


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: The Tuatha Dé Danann brought four magical treasures with them to Ireland, one apiece from their Four Cities:


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: The following is a chronology from the Annals of the Four Masters; based on reign-lengths given in Geoffrey Keating's "Forus Feasa ar Erinn". Nuada's original reign lacks a precise start date.


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: In the Irish version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius, the chief men of science of the "Tuatha Dé Danann" are listed with their partly Latin names and associations as follows:


title: Tuatha Dé Danann

text: In the Annals of Inisfallen, the following are listed as members of the "Tuatha Dé" who overcame the Fir Bolg:


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Various non-human animal species exhibit behavior that can be interpreted as homosexual or bisexual. This may include same-sex sexual activity, courtship, affection, pair bonding, and parenting among same-sex animal pairs. Various forms of this are found in every major geographic region and every major animal group. The sexual behavior of non-human animals takes many different forms, even within the same species, though homosexual behavior is best known from social species.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Scientists perceive homosexual behavior in animals to different degrees. According to Bruce Bagemihl, same-sex behavior (comprising courtship, sexual, pair-bonding, and parental activities) has been documented in over 450 species of animals worldwide. Although same-sex interactions involving genital contact have been reported in hundreds of animal species, they are routinely manifested in only a few, including humans. Simon LeVay stated that "[a]lthough homosexual behavior is very common in the animal world, it seems to be very uncommon that individual animals have a long-lasting predisposition to engage in such behavior to the exclusion of heterosexual activities. Thus, a homosexual orientation, if one can speak of such thing in animals, seems to be a rarity." The motivations for and implications of these behaviors are lensed through anthropocentric thinking; Bagemihl notes that any hypothesis is "necessarily an account of human interpretations of these phenomena".


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: One species in which exclusive homosexual orientation occurs is the domesticated sheep ("Ovis aries"). "About 10% of rams (males), refuse to mate with ewes (females) but do readily mate with other rams."


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: The term "homosexual" was coined by the Hungarian writer and campaigner Karl Maria Kertbeny in 1868 to describe same-sex sexual attraction and sexual behavior in humans. Its use in animal studies has been controversial for two main reasons: animal sexuality and motivating factors have been and remain poorly understood, and the term has strong cultural implications in western society that are irrelevant for species other than humans. Thus homosexual behavior has been given a number of terms over the years. According to Bruce Bagemihl, when describing animals, the term "homosexual" is preferred over "gay", "lesbian", and other terms currently in use, as these are seen as even more bound to human homosexuality.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Bailey et al. says:Homosexual: in animals, this has been used to refer to same-sex behavior that is not sexual in character (e.g. 'homosexual tandem running' in termites), same-sex courtship or copulatory behavior occurring over a short period of time (e.g. 'homosexual mounting' in cockroaches and rams) or long-term pair bonds between same-sex partners that might involve any combination of courting, copulating, parenting and affectional behaviors (e.g. 'homosexual pair bonds' in gulls). In humans, the term is used to describe individual sexual behaviors as well as long-term relationships, but in some usages connotes a gay or lesbian social identity. Scientific writing would benefit from reserving this anthropomorphic term for humans and not using it to describe behavior in other animals, because of its deeply rooted context in human society.Animal preference and motivation is always inferred from behavior. In wild animals, researchers will as a rule not be able to map the entire life of an individual, and must infer from frequency of single observations of behavior. The correct usage of the term "homosexual" is that an animal "exhibits homosexual behavior" or even "same-sex sexual behavior"; however, this article conforms to the usage by modern research, applying the term "homosexuality" to all sexual behavior (copulation, genital stimulation, mating games and sexual display behavior) between animals of the same sex. In most instances, it is presumed that the homosexual behavior is but part of the animal's overall sexual behavioral repertoire, making the animal "bisexual" rather than "homosexual" as the terms are commonly understood in humans.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: The observation of homosexual behavior in animals can be seen as both an argument for and against the acceptance of homosexuality in humans, and has been used especially against the claim that it is a "peccatum contra naturam" ("sin against nature"). For instance, homosexuality in animals was cited by the American Psychiatric Association and other groups in their "amici curiae" brief to the United States Supreme Court in "Lawrence v. Texas", which ultimately struck down the sodomy laws of 14 states.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: A majority of the research available concerning homosexual behavior in animals lacks specification between animals that exclusively exhibit same-sex tendencies and those that participate in heterosexual and homosexual mating activities interchangeably. This lack of distinction has led to differing opinions and conflicting interpretations of collected data amongst scientists and researchers. For instance, Bruce Bagemihl, author of the book "Biological Exuberence: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity", emphasizes that there are no anatomical or endocrinological differences between exclusively homosexual and exclusively heterosexual animal pairs. However, if the definition of "homosexual behavior" is made to include animals that participate in both same-sex and opposite-sex mating activities, hormonal differences have been documented among key sex hormones, such as testosterone and estradiol, when compared to those who participate solely in heterosexual mating.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Many of the animals used in laboratory-based studies of homosexuality do not appear to spontaneously exhibit these tendencies often in the wild. Such behavior is often elicited and exaggerated by the researcher during experimentation through the destruction of a portion of brain tissue, or by exposing the animal to high levels of steroid hormones prenatally. Information gathered from these studies is limited when applied to spontaneously occurring same-sex behavior in animals outside of the laboratory.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Homosexual behaviour in animals has been discussed since classical antiquity. The earliest written mention of animal homosexuality appears to date back to 2,300 years ago, when Aristotle (384–322 BC) described copulation between pigeons, partridges and quails of the same sex. The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo, written in the 4th century AD by the Egyptian writer Horapollo, mentions "hermaphroditism" in hyenas and homosexuality in partridges. The first review of animal homosexuality was written by the zoologist Ferdinand Karsch-Haack in 1900.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Academic research into the ubiquity of same-sex sexual behavior was not carried out on a large scale, possibly due to observer bias caused by social attitudes to same-sex sexual behavior, innocent confusion, lack of interest, distaste, scientists fearing loss of their grants or even from a fear of "being ridiculed by their colleagues". Georgetown University biologist Janet Mann states "Scientists who study the topic are often accused of trying to forward an agenda, and their work can come under greater scrutiny than that of their colleagues who study other topics." They also noted "Not every sexual act has a reproductive function ... that's true of humans and non-humans." Studies have demonstrated homosexual behavior in a number of species, but the true extent of homosexuality in animals is not known.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Some researchers believe this behavior to have its origin in male social organization and social dominance, similar to the dominance traits shown in prison sexuality. Others, particularly Bagemihl, Joan Roughgarden, Thierry Lodé and Paul Vasey suggest the social function of sex (both homosexual and heterosexual) is not necessarily connected to dominance, but serves to strengthen alliances and social ties within a flock. While reports on many such mating scenarios are still only anecdotal, a growing body of scientific work confirms that permanent homosexuality occurs not only in species with permanent pair bonds, but also in non-monogamous species like sheep. One report on sheep found that 8% of rams exhibited homosexual preferences—that is, even when given a choice, they chose male over female partners. In fact, apparent homosexual individuals are known from all of the traditional domestic species, from sheep, cattle and horses to cats, dogs and budgerigars.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Sexual behaviors often require a significant energy investment. When sexual behaviors produce offspring, there is an obvious benefit for the animal. However, the benefit from performing homosexual behaviors (which cannot result in the production of offspring) is less obvious, and some scientists have called it a "Darwinian paradox" because it is non-reproductive. A number of non-exclusive different explanations for the emergence of such traits have been put forward.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: A definite physiological explanation or reason for homosexual activity in animal species has not been agreed upon by researchers in the field. Numerous scholars are of the opinion that varying levels (either higher or lower) of the sex hormones in the animal, in addition to the size of the animal's gonads, play a direct role in the sexual behavior and preference exhibited by that animal. Others firmly argue no evidence to support these claims exists when comparing animals of a specific species exhibiting homosexual behavior exclusively and those that do not. Ultimately, empirical support from comprehensive endocrinological studies exist for both interpretations. Researchers found no evidence of differences in the measurements of the gonads, or the levels of the sex hormones of exclusively homosexual western gulls and ring-billed gulls.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Additional studies pertaining to hormone involvement in homosexual behavior indicate that when administering treatments of testosterone and estradiol to female heterosexual animals, the elevated hormone levels increase the likelihood of homosexual behavior. Additionally, boosting the levels of sex hormones during an animal's pregnancy appears to increase the likelihood of it birthing a homosexual offspring.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Researchers found that disabling the fucose mutarotase (FucM) gene in laboratory mice – which influences the levels of estrogen to which the brain is exposed – caused the female mice to behave as if they were male as they grew up. "The mutant female mouse underwent a slightly altered developmental programme in the brain to resemble the male brain in terms of sexual preference" said Professor Chankyu Park of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Daejon, South Korea, who led the research. His findings were published in the "BMC Genetics" journal on July 7, 2010. Another study found that by manipulating a gene in fruit flies ("Drosophila"), homosexual behavior appeared to have been induced. However, in addition to homosexual behavior, several abnormal behaviors were also exhibited apparently due to this mutation.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: In March 2011, research showed that serotonin is involved in the mechanism of sexual orientation of mice. A study conducted on fruit flies found that inhibiting the dopamine neurotransmitter inhibited lab-induced homosexual behavior.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: One proposal for the adaptive function of homosexual behavior is the formation of alliances and mutual social benefit to the animals. Studies support this in specific species, such as black swans, where a quarter of mate pairs consist of two males, who mate with a female and chase her away once she lays the egg, then raise it themselves. These M-M pairs have great success in defending their territory and resources, and keep their young alive until fledgling 80% of the time, compared to 30% for M-F pairs.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Studies done on homosexual behavior in birds showed a negative correlation between relative parental investment and F-F homosexual behaviors, i.e. females that invested more time and care into their young relative to males had less homosexual encounters. Similarly, there was a negative correlation between relative parental investment and M-M homosexual behaviors. This meant that species exhibiting a high degree of polygamy (where females often are the exclusive caretakers of the young) F-F sexual behaviors were very rare, whereas in a socially monogamous species (in which a M-F pair works together to care for young) they were much more common. The trend was opposite for males, in polygamous species M-M sexual behaviors were quite common and in socially monogamous species they were rare. The study argues that release from parental care, a very energy intensive investment, allows the opportunities for homosexual behaviors to be exhibited, and higher parental care prevents homosexual behaviors from occurring because of the energy cost of the behaviors.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: A 2019 paper hypothesized that when sex first began to evolve, there was no distinction between homosexuality and heterosexuality, and animals mated with other members of their species indiscriminately. This is a contrast to most perspectives, which try to find explanations for the evolution of homosexual behaviors and separate it completely from the evolution of heterosexual behaviors. The study states that it is unlikely that sexual behaviors evolved simultaneously to the evolution of traits necessary to recognize a compatible sexual mate, such as size, shape, odor, and color. As those secondary sex characteristics evolved, sexuality would have become more discriminatory, leading to less homosexuality, but homosexual behaviors would rarely have had enough cost to be selected against and removed entirely from a population. Additionally, the cost of homosexual behavior would be offset by the cost of mate recognition, which requires psychological adaptations, and excessive discrimination in mate choice can lead to missing out of mating opportunities. With indiscriminate mating, these factors are irrelevant. The paper notes that in some species, especially where survival is very difficult and each energy-related decision could mean the animal's death, homosexual behavior would be strongly selected against, leading strictly heterosexual species.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: An estimated one-quarter of all black swan pairings are of males. They steal nests, or form temporary threesomes with females to obtain eggs, driving away the female after she lays the eggs. The males spent time in each other's society, guarded the common territory, performed greeting ceremonies before each other, and (in the reproductive period) pre-marital rituals, and if one of the birds tried to sit on the other, an intense fight began. More of their cygnets survive to adulthood than those of different-sex pairs, possibly due to their superior ability to defend large portions of land. The same reasoning has been applied to male flamingo pairs raising chicks.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Female Laysan albatrosses, on the north-western tip of the island of Oahu, Hawaii, form pairs for co-growing offspring. On the observed island, the number of females considerably exceeds the number of males (59% N=102/172), so 31% of females, after mating with males, create partnerships for hatching and feeding chicks. Compared to male-female couples, female partnerships have a lower hatching rate (41% vs 87%) and lower overall reproductive success (31% vs. 67%).


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Warming waters from climate change have led to increased foraging times and thus increased mortality among female black-browed albatrosses on the Antipodes Islands in New Zealand. The skewed gender imbalance has led to many male albatrosses forming homosexual relationships. Male-male pairs now comprise between 2 - 5% of the albatross population on the islands.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: In 2009, a UK-based captive breeding program for blue ducks (involving two males and one female) was derailed when the two males paired with each other instead of with the female that they were assigned to mate with.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Research has shown that the environmental pollutant methylmercury can increase the prevalence of homosexual behavior in male American white ibis. The study involved exposing chicks in varying dosages to the chemical and measuring the degree of homosexual behavior in adulthood. The results discovered was that as the dosage was increased the likelihood of homosexual behavior also increased. The endocrine blocking feature of mercury has been suggested as a possible cause of sexual disruption in other bird species.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Mallards form male-female pairs only until the female lays eggs, at which time the male leaves the female. Mallards have rates of male-male sexual activity that are unusually high for birds, in some cases, as high as 19% of all pairs in a population. Kees Moeliker of the Natural History Museum Rotterdam has observed one male mallard engage in homosexual necrophilia.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Penguins have been observed to engage in homosexual behaviour since at least as early as 1911. George Murray Levick, who documented this behaviour in Adélie penguins at Cape Adare, described it as "depraved". The report was considered too shocking for public release at the time, and was suppressed. The only copies that were made available privately to researchers had the English text partly written in Greek letters, to prevent this knowledge becoming more widely known. The report was unearthed only a century later, and published in "Polar Record" in June 2012.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: In early February 2004, "The New York Times" reported that Roy and Silo, a male pair of chinstrap penguins in the Central Park Zoo in New York City, had successfully hatched and fostered a female chick from a fertile egg they had been given to incubate. Other penguins in New York zoos have also been reported to have formed same-sex pairs.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: In Odense Zoo in Denmark, a pair of male king penguins adopted an egg that had been abandoned by a female, proceeding to incubate it and raise the chick.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Zoos in Japan and Germany have also documented homosexual male penguin couples. The couples have been shown to build nests together and use a stone as a substitute for an egg. Researchers at Rikkyo University in Tokyo found 20 homosexual pairs at 16 major aquariums and zoos in Japan.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: The Bremerhaven Zoo in Germany attempted to encourage reproduction of endangered Humboldt penguins by importing females from Sweden and separating three male pairs, but this was unsuccessful. The zoo's director said that the relationships were "too strong" between the homosexual pairs. German gay groups protested at this attempt to break up the male-male pairs but the zoo's director was reported as saying "We don't know whether the three male pairs are really homosexual or whether they have just bonded because of a shortage of females ... nobody here wants to forcibly separate homosexual couples."


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: A pair of male Magellanic penguins who had shared a burrow for six years at the San Francisco Zoo and raised a surrogate chick, split when the male of a pair in the next burrow died and the female sought a new mate.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Buddy and Pedro, a pair of male African penguins, were separated by the Toronto Zoo to mate with female penguins. Buddy has since paired off with a female.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Suki and Chupchikoni are two female African penguins that pair bonded at the Ramat Gan Safari in Israel. Chupchikoni was assumed to be male until her blood was tested.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: In 2014 Jumbs and Hurricane, two Humboldt penguins at Wingham Wildlife Park became the center of international media attention as two male penguins who had pair bonded a number of years earlier and then successfully hatched and reared an egg given to them as surrogate parents after the mother abandoned it halfway through incubation.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: As of 2018, two female King penguins at Kelly Tarltons in Auckland, New Zealand, called Thelma and Louise (named after the 1991 film) have been in a relationship for eight years, when most of the other eligible penguins switch partners each mating season, regardless of their orientation. The two penguins were both taking care of an egg that Thelma hatched, but is unknown whether it was fertilized.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: In 1998, two male griffon vultures named Dashik and Yehuda, at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo, engaged in "open and energetic sex" and built a nest. The keepers provided the couple with an artificial egg, which the two parents took turns incubating, and 45 days later, the zoo replaced the egg with a baby vulture. The two male vultures raised the chick together. A few years later, however, Yehuda became interested in a female vulture that was brought into the aviary. Dashik became depressed, and was eventually moved to the zoological research garden at Tel Aviv University where he too set up a nest with a female vulture.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Two male vultures at the Allwetter Zoo in Muenster built a nest together, although they were picked on and their nest materials were often stolen by other vultures. They were eventually separated to try to promote breeding by placing one of them with female vultures, despite the protests of German homosexual groups.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Both male and female pigeons sometimes exhibit homosexual behavior. In addition to sexual behavior, same-sex pigeon pairs will build nests, and hens will lay (infertile) eggs and attempt to incubate them.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: The Amazon river dolphin or boto has been reported to form up in bands of 3–5 individuals engaging in sexual activity. The groups usually comprise young males and sometimes one or two females. Sex is often performed in non-reproductive ways, using snout, flippers and genital rubbing, without regard to gender. In captivity, they have been observed to sometimes perform homosexual and heterosexual penetration of the blowhole, a hole homologous with the nostril of other mammals, making this the only known example of nasal sex in the animal kingdom. The males will sometimes also perform sex with males from the tucuxi species, a type of small porpoise.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Courtship, mounting, and full anal penetration between bulls has been noted to occur among American bison. The Mandan nation Okipa festival concludes with a ceremonial enactment of this behavior, to "ensure the return of the buffalo in the coming season". Also, mounting of one female by another (known as "bulling") is extremely common among cattle. The behaviour is hormone driven and synchronizes with the emergence of estrus (heat), particularly in the presence of a bull.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: More than 20 species of bat have been documented to engage in homosexual behavior. Bat species that have been observed engaging in homosexual behavior in the wild include:


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Bat species that have been observed engaging in homosexual behavior in captivity include the Comoro flying fox ("Pteropus livingstonii"), the Rodrigues flying fox ("Pteropus rodricensis") and the common vampire bat ("Desmodus rotundus").


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Homosexual behavior in bats has been categorized into 6 groups: mutual homosexual grooming and licking, homosexual masturbation, homosexual play, homosexual mounting, coercive sex, and cross-species homosexual sex.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: In the wild, the grey-headed flying fox ("Pteropus poliocephalus") engages in allogrooming wherein one partner licks and gently bites the chest and wing membrane of the other partner. Both sexes display this form of mutual homosexual grooming and it is more common in males. Males often have erect penises while they are mutually grooming each other. Like opposite-sex grooming partners, same-sex grooming partners continuously utter a "pre-copulation call", which is described as a "pulsed grating call", while engaged in this activity.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: In wild Bonin flying foxes ("Pteropus pselaphon"), males perform fellatio or 'male-male genital licking' on other males. Male–male genital licking events occur repeatedly several times in the same pair, and reciprocal genital licking also occurs. The male-male genital licking in these bats is considered a sexual behavior. Allogrooming in Bonin flying foxes has never been observed, hence the male-male genital licking in this species does not seem to be a byproduct of allogrooming, but rather a behavior of directly licking the male genital area, independent of allogrooming. In captivity, same-sex genital licking has been observed among males of the Comoro flying fox ("Pteropus livingstonii") as well as among males of the common vampire bat ("Desmodus rotundus").


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: In wild Indian flying foxes ("Pteropus giganteus"), males often mount one another, with erections and thrusting, while play-wrestling. Males of the long-fingered bat ("Myotis capaccinii") have been observed in the same position of male-female mounting, with one gripping the back of the other's fur. A similar behavior was also observed in the common bent-wing bat ("Miniopterus schreibersii").


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: In wild little brown bats ("Myotis lucifugus"), males often mount other males (and females) during late autumn and winter, when many of the mounted individuals are torpid. 35% of matings during this period are homosexual. These coercive copulations usually include ejaculation and the mounted bat often makes a typical copulation call consisting of a long squawk. Similarly, in hibernacula of the common noctule ("Nyctalus noctula"), active males were observed to wake up from lethargy on a warm day and engage in mating with lethargic males and (active or lethargic) females. The lethargic males, like females, called out loudly and presented their buccal glands with opened mouth during copulation.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Vesey-Fitzgerald (1949) observed homosexual behaviours in all 12 British bat species known at the time: "Homosexuality is common in the spring in all species, and, since the males are in full possession of their powers, I suspect throughout the summer...I have even seen homosexuality between Natterer's and Daubenton's bats ("Myotis nattereri" and "M. daubentonii")."


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Dolphins of several species engage in homosexual acts, though it is best studied in the bottlenose dolphins. Sexual encounters between females take the shape of "beak-genital propulsion", where one female inserts her beak in the genital opening of the other while swimming gently forward. Between males, homosexual behaviour includes rubbing of genitals against each other, which sometimes leads to the males swimming belly to belly, inserting the penis in the other's genital slit and sometimes anus.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Janet Mann, Georgetown University professor of biology and psychology, argues that the strong personal behavior among male dolphin calves is about bond formation and benefits the species in an evolutionary context. She cites studies showing that these dolphins later in life as adults are in a sense bisexual, and the male bonds forged earlier in life work together for protection as well as locating females to reproduce with. Confrontations between flocks of bottlenose dolphins and the related species Atlantic spotted dolphin will sometimes lead to cross-species homosexual behaviour between the males rather than combat.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: African and Asian male elephants will engage in same-sex bonding and mounting. Such encounters are often associated with affectionate interactions, such as kissing, trunk intertwining, and placing trunks in each other's mouths. Male elephants, who often live apart from the general herd, often form "companionships", consisting of an older individual and one or sometimes two younger males with sexual behavior being an important part of the social dynamic. Unlike heterosexual relations, which are always of a fleeting nature, the relationships between males may last for years. The encounters are analogous to heterosexual bouts, one male often extending his trunk along the other's back and pushing forward with his tusks to signify his intention to mount. Same-sex relations are common and frequent in both sexes, with Asiatic elephants in captivity devoting roughly 45% of sexual encounters to same-sex activity.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Male giraffes have been observed to engage in remarkably high frequencies of homosexual behavior. After aggressive "necking", it is common for two male giraffes to caress and court each other, leading up to mounting and climax. Such interactions between males have been found to be more frequent than heterosexual coupling. In one study, up to 94% of observed mounting incidents took place between two males. The proportion of same sex activities varied between 30 and 75%, and at any given time one in twenty males were engaged in non-combative necking behavior with another male. Only 1% of same-sex mounting incidents occurred between females.