Ducks into necrophilia-who ever whould have known?

[danceswithcats]

According to this Dutch researcher (http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/research/story/0,9865,1432991,00.html) ducks are into some behaviors that could cause Daffy to exclaim, "Thath desthpiccable!" ;)

[CynicalGabe]

So... How about 'them Mets, huh?

[Zebra]

Rats!

I was hoping this was about Duck Duck Goose.

[RandomLetters]

Well, DreadCthulhu (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=220152) could have known about this, over a year ago.

[Colibri]

This bit from the article is incorrect:

His findings have provoked a lot of interest - especially in Britain for some reason - but no other recorded cases of duck necrophilia.

Necrophila in the animal world is well known, and even has a name: Davian behavior"

As I posted in the earlier thread:


I kid you not, there are a number of scientific articles written about necrophila in the animal world. (This is the first one I've seen about homosexual necrophilia, though.) It's often referred to as "Davian behavior," in reference to:


There was an old hermit named Dave
Who kept a dead whore in his cave
He did admit
The feeling was shit
But think of the money he saved!

In birds, this is called "avian Davian behavior." (I am not making this up.)

By the way, ducks are one of the few kinds of birds in which the male has a penis, which is usually retracted within the cloaca. The Argentine Lake Duck has a penis half as long as its body length (equivalent to a human having one about 3 feet long.)


The 20-cm Spiny Penis of the Argentine Lake Duck (Oxyura vittata) (http://www.bioone.org/bioone/?request=get-document&issn=0004-8038&volume=117&issue=03&page=0820)

[capybara]

Doesn't surprise me. I posted a GQ about a year ago about "Male Mallards: Nature's Violent Sex Offenders?"

[DocCathode]

From a scientific viewpoint, I don't see how this is newsworthy. Males of many species will attempt to mate with anything that roughly fits their criteria (size, shape, and sometimes color). If the potential mate doesn't attack or throw them, they'll mate with it.

I can never remember the name, but there's a species of orchid which mimics the female of a certain wasp species. Males mating with the flowers pollinate the plants.