Necrophilia among ducks ruffles research feathers

This was actually one of the Ig Nobel recipients, but still and all I think is relevant to the ongoing claims to whether or not homosexuality is "natural". any idea of natural has to accopmodate ALL things that are narurally observed, including this case:Necrophilia among ducks ruffles research feathersDonald MacLeod
Tuesday March 8, 2005The 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.

That part alone is enough to irritate me very badly.

It kind of irritated when I heard about the homosexual necrophilia in the mallard "research paper" winning the IgNobel prize a year or two back. IgNobel winning research generally involves people who have struggled to get funding and peer-reviewed publications for what would seem absurd studies to most. The duck "research paper" was essentially a one page joke that was published in the newsletter for the museum where the guy works.I think we should be careful about assigning too much relevance to this sort of "research" - there is plenty of genuine research regarding animal homosexuality, so I see no need to resort to citing this jokey drivel.

I wonder, though, how many people actually thought it was a real nobel prize involved.

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I think we should be careful about assigning too much relevance to this sort of "research" - there is plenty of genuine research regarding animal homosexuality, so I see no need to resort to citing this jokey drivel.

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Come on, the phenomenon was observed and recorded, albeit with perhaps an excess of rigour for effect. all by itself I consider it perfect for an attck on the idea of "naturalness", and at a stroke it illustrates and actual behaviour far removed from the ideal of abstract of sexual relations.

But why use this schlock in favor of other available studies? Even if it recorded a genuine instance, when published in a museum newsletter and riddled with jokes, it is not likely to be taken seriously, and will likely imply weakness of your case if it what you produce as evidence - also, a record of a single instance isn't likely to convince anyone that this is a regular natural phenomenon. You would do better to cite some of the references from the necroduck paper, which include independent surveys that produced rates of homosexuality among bird populations.Quite frankly, this is not too far off from providing a Chick Tract as evidence on some academic point of theology.

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But why use this schlock in favor of other available studies?

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Becuase it was handy.
Becuase I do not know of or have access to other studies.
Becuase even a single instance is enough to debubk claims to "naturalness".