kinky mallard SEX HURT
Posted by:: "magneticscottiedogs"
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 14:38:24 -0500
--------
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/research/story/0,9865,1432991,00.html
http://www.nmr.nl/deins815.htm
Necrophilia among ducks ruffles research feathers
Donald MacLeod
Tuesday March 8, 2005
The strange case of the homosexual necrophiliac duck
pushed out the boundaries of knowledge in a rather
improbable way when it was recorded by Dutch
researcher Kees Moeliker.
It may have ruffled a few feathers, but it earned him the
coveted Ig Nobel prize for biology awarded for
improbable research, and next week he will be
recounting his findings to UK audiences on the Ig Nobel tour.
Ducks behave pretty badly, it seems. It is not so much
that up to one in 10 of mallard couples are homosexual -
no one would raise an eyebrow in the liberal Netherlands
but they regularly indulge in "attempted rape flights" when
they pursue other ducks with a view to forcible mating.
"Rape is a normal reproductive strategy in mallards,"
explains Mr Moeliker.
As he recounts in his seminal paper, The first case of homosexual
necrophilia in the mallard anas platyrhynchos, he was in his office
in the Natuurmuseum Rotterdam, when he was alerted by a
bang to the fact a bird had crashed into the glass facade of the
building. "I went downstairs immediately to see if the window
was damaged, and saw a drake mallard (anas platyrhynchos)
lying motionless on its belly in the sand, two metres outside the facade.
The unfortunate duck apparently had hit the building in full flight
at a height of about three metres from the ground. Next to the
obviously dead duck, another male mallard (in full adult plumage
without any visible traces of moult) was present. He forcibly
picked into the back, the base of the bill and mostly into the
back of the head of the dead mallard for about two minutes,
then mounted the corpse and started to copulate, with great
force, almost continuously picking the side of the head.
"Rather startled, I watched this scene from close quarters
behind the window until 19.10 hours during which time
(75 minutes) I made some photographs and the mallard
almost continuously copulated his dead congener.
He dismounted only twice, stayed near the dead duck
and picked the neck and the side of the head before mounting
again. The first break (at 18.29 hours) lasted three minutes
and the second break (at 18.45 hours) lasted less than
a minute. At 19.12 hours, I disturbed this cruel scene.
The necrophilic mallard only reluctantly left his 'mate':
when I had approached him to about five metres, he
did not fly away but simply walked off a few metres,
weakly uttering a series of two-note 'raeb-raeb' calls
(the 'conversation-call' of Lorentz 1953). I secured the
dead duck and left the museum at 19.25 hours.
The mallard was still present at the site, calling 'raeb-raeb'
and apparently looking for his victim (who, by then, was
in the freezer)."
Mr Moeliker suggests the pair were engaged in a rape
flight attempt. "When one died the other one just went
for it and didn't get any negative feedback - well, didn't
get any feedback," he said.
His findings have provoked a lot of interest - especially in
Britain for some reason - but no other recorded cases
of duck necrophilia. However, Mr Moeliker was informed
of an American case involving a squirrel and a dead
partner, although in this case it is not known whether the
necrophilia observed was homosexual or not as the victim
had been run over by a truck shortly before the incident.
--------------------
Special Note: Scientists and Biologists seeking White
Paper recognition for consideration as candidates for the
coveted Ig Nobel Prize for Biology (..awarded for
improbable research) should consider visiting X-Day
2005 with camcorder and notepad in hand.