Austin Mercadante, Graduate Student

YOUR VIEW: Grad Student Takes Aim At 'Gay Animals' Article

While I welcome any Plainsman article about science, nature or research, The Plainsman article "Can animals be gay?" (Intrigue, C1, 8 April 2010) was far too similar to the recent New York Times article "Can animals be gay?" (29 March 2010).Both articles discuss the Laysan Albatross (in The Plainsman article referred to as simply "albatross") in Oahu, using the same numbers and similar language (39 of 125 nests were female-female pairs, albatrosses live 60 to 70 years, 450 different species).It is clear that The Plainsman article is a summary of the New York Times article, but without citing or mentioning Jon Mooallem (the original author).I applaud The Plainsman for quoting Linda Wolfe (a scientist with research in the subject), but the quotation from veterinarian Ted Albert is both false and absurd."Everything animals do is instinctual" is obviously not true to anyone who has ever trained a pet or studied animal behavior.I am glad to see space devoted to current scientific research, but summarizing articles in prominent journals without citing original sources and quoting individuals without any relevant knowledge of the subject matter cannot be acceptable journalistic procedure.