Homosexual Necrophiliac Ducks
 

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 **** flights" when they pursue other ducks with a view to forcible mating. "**** 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 **** 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.






Article can be found at: http://education.guardian.co.uk/high...432991,00.html

Well that just shows that humans hardly differ from animals.

and that was one clever duck...he used his chance to make some use of a dead body and get what he wanted.

I dunno... Sounds to me the "offending" duck didn't know his partner was dead, as evidenced by the calling and searching behaviour. Does that still count as necrophilia?
On a side note; I really hate those effin asterisks.

Wierd. It cod be that the living Duc was so arosed that he dident notic that he's "partner" was dead.

Well I just wanted to see what you guys thought of it. From what I gathered it means one thing *to me at least*. Before I bring that up I want to remind you guys about one thing.... Humans and Dolphins are /supposed/ to be the only animals that get pleasure from having sex. With that in mind I will bring up that this research proves the previous statement wrong. All previous research proves that if there's no response they will normally move on to a more... lively partner. That's one thing that seperates humans from animals. Humans have a conscience, and we dont go 100% off of primal instinct (that's debatable depending on who you talk to)

homosexual necrophiliac ducks.... spookie.... i want one!

O.o That is damn hilarious. O.o

I want one as a pet...Are ducks trainable to attack or hump upon site of a certain someone? Family reunions are such a bother...

ill take 68 of them!

Maybe it's not sexual pleasure, but complete sexual non-discrimination.
I'd say the mallard duck's instinct says to reproduce, without even finding out first if the "receptor" is compatible.

That was pretty cool.
I didn't know ducks could be necrophiliacs.

I love nature =)

Me too, but sometimes nature can be evil.

Ah but what is evil, if the species involved does not have the intelegence to comprehend it =).

Also evil is only evil in the persons own mind, what is evil to one may not be to another.

Lol sorry could not resist openeing a debate. XD

Eh, it's okay, debates are fun.

But evil can be evil to other people to, and not just one. Wasn't Hitler evil or just racist? I never really understood the whole concept of him.

Wow you really do learn something new everyday.

Even though I don't like to learn, but its true, you do learn something new every day. =)

I'm still trying to take the whole article in....HAHAHA..damn!

I can't wait till I pass my boss in the hall.

He has duck carvings and stuff all over his office.

(dare I suggest he's implying something?)

This last paragraph has totally made my day. Rock on all you American necro squirrels, rock on!

~Absinthe

*Looks up to last post* Looks like someone had a little too much fun, hehe...

I dare you to suggest something. ;)

Mention to your boss that your buddy emailed you an article about ducks, and since he likes them so much he might be interested. Pretend you haven't read it and watch the expression on his face :D I dare you too!

I've heard before that 1/10 of animals are homosexual. I've never heard of them being necrophiliacs before...

I agree! Nature is awesome sometimes! And entertaining :)