# What is this duck doing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 13, 2009, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934 "2009-04-13T12:11:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/21 "2009-04-13T21:54:42Z")
In other words, she was pushing up daisies while he was pushing up Daisy’s. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/22 "2009-04-13T22:09:27Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > There was a 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! > [@Scissorjack](#): > > In other words, she was pushing up daisies while he was pushing up Daisy’s. Heh heh heh. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/23 "2009-04-13T23:41:34Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Given the limited nature of the pair bond in Mallards, I think it was very unlikely the male was mourning a dead mate. Much more likely he was interested in copulating with the female, even if he didn’t make any overt attempts. > > Male Mallards are known for engaging in rape behavior, and as mentioned above there is a documented case of homosexual necrophilia. The first report of such [avian Davian behavior](http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Wilson/v100n02/p0293-p0294.pdf) involved a female that was killed by a goose and then gang-raped (if such a term can be applied to a corpse) by several male Mallards. Well, that makes me feel better. Thanks, **Colibri**! Although I’m not sure what it says about me that learning about avian necrophilia makes me “feel better”. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/24 "2009-04-14T00:30:03Z")
Wait, so guys who will go after a non-responsive female are really just thinking with their ducks? ---
**Author:** ![fighting\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ac8455/32.png) [@fighting\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fighting_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/25 "2009-04-14T01:20:49Z")
And it must be asked, “[Why a duck?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php)” ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/26 "2009-04-14T03:18:14Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Given the limited nature of the pair bond in Mallards, I think it was very unlikely the male was mourning a dead mate. Much more likely he was interested in copulating with the female, even if he didn’t make any overt attempts. What’s your interpretation of the role played by the second male in this anatine tragedy? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/27 "2009-04-14T04:27:10Z")
> [@Chez\_Guevara](#): > > What’s your interpretation of the role played by the second male in this anatine tragedy? I dunno, but I doubt he was acting as a grief counselor to Dave.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/28 "2009-04-14T04:36:15Z")
Could he be guarding it? Why didn’t the hawk come back to finsh the meal? You’d think a fox or something else, like a crow would come to scavenge it? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Know\_Nothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f04885/32.png) [@I\_Know\_Nothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Know_Nothing)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/29 "2009-04-14T08:34:41Z")
> [@Chez\_Guevara](#): > > What’s your interpretation of the role played by the second male in this anatine tragedy? My first thought was that he was trying to get laid too. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/30 "2009-04-14T08:39:05Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Lacking more research, why assume either way? We just don’t know. Because when faced with the option of viewing a living creature as a biological automaton or a conscious, feeling being, the decent thing to do is to err towards the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/31 "2009-04-14T11:44:48Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Could he be guarding it? Why didn’t the hawk come back to finsh the meal? You’d think a fox or something else, like a crow would come to scavenge it? We live in a townhouse development in the suburbs. NEVER seen foxes around the property, or coyotes or other scavengers. Crows? trying to recall, but I don’t think they’re around much either. Dunno why the hawk didn’t come back. We see hawks from time to time but they’re not that prevelant here. My guess is he doesn’t have much competition in the area, so he just went and scored lunch elsewhere. I do know the carcass was pretty much intact on Sunday (the day after the kill). Monday morning it was too dark to tell its condition, but the male was still hanging around, so it must still have been at least recognizable as a female of his species… ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/32 "2009-04-14T17:38:33Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Because when faced with the option of viewing a living creature as a biological automaton or a conscious, feeling being, the decent thing to do is to err towards the latter. And _then_ eat it? That sounds counter-productive. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/33 "2009-04-14T18:09:10Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > … The first report of such [avian Davian behavior](http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Wilson/v100n02/p0293-p0294.pdf) involved a female that was killed by a goose and then gang-raped (if such a term can be applied to a corpse) by several male Mallards… I’m sorry that the term has not been coined as _Aviar Daviar Behavior_. Almost begs for another limerick. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/34 "2009-04-15T13:04:29Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > And _then_ eat it? That sounds counter-productive. For a butcher, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/35 "2009-04-15T14:00:02Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > And _then_ eat it? That sounds counter-productive. I’d eat it first but that’s just me… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/36 "2009-04-15T14:41:59Z")
There once was a bird who’s quite avian Whose behavior was never quite Davian He saw a dead duck Who proceeded to \*\*\*\* With his mind: should he roast, or put gravy in? ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/37 "2009-04-15T23:48:52Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > There once was a bird who’s quite avian > Whose behavior was never quite Davian > He saw a dead duck > Who proceeded to \*\*\*\* > With his mind: should he roast, or put gravy in? You, sir, have a diseased mind. My congratulations. A lubricious young drake, sang a bard, Found his sweetheart deceased, and got hard. As he pondered her stiff He thought “Is it wrong if I enact quite a shocking _canard_?” ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/38 "2009-04-16T11:07:50Z")
I just finished a book that dealt with (among other things) homosexual necrophilia in ducks. It was written by a Dutch biologist named Kees Moeliker, who observed a case of, well, a duck fucking a dead duck. [His description](http://www.mikenish.com/Moeliker.pdf) won him an IgNobel award, for research that makes you laugh, then makes you think. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934/39 "2009-04-16T17:24:22Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > I just finished a book that dealt with (among other things) homosexual necrophilia in ducks. It was written by a Dutch biologist named Kees Moeliker, who observed a case of, well, a duck fucking a dead duck. [His description](http://www.mikenish.com/Moeliker.pdf) won him an IgNobel award, for research that makes you laugh, then makes you think. Heh. Whoda thunk we’d go from “this duck is mourning its lost mate :(” to “[The first duck] collided with the glass façade of the Natuurmuseum Rotterdam and died. Another drake mallard raped the corpse almost continuously for 75 minutes.” With pics. Oh, Internet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-duck-doing/492934.md?page=1)