In June 1995 I witnessed an hitherto hidden aspect in the life of the mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos). It took me six years to write it up and publish it. Here is the reference and the abstract:
Moeliker, C.W., 2001 - The first case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard Anas platyrhynchos (Aves: Anatidae) - DEINSEA 8: 243-247 [ISSN 0932-9308]. Published 9 November 2001
On 5 June 1995 an adult male mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) collided with the glass façade of the Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam and died. An other drake mallard raped the corpse almost continuously for 75 minutes. Then the author disturbed the scene and secured the dead duck. Dissection showed that the rape-victim indeed was of the male sex. It is concluded that the mallards were engaged in an ‘Attempted Rape Flight’ that resulted in the first described case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard.
Here is the full paper (if you want to read the whole story) and here is my classic piece about it (in Dutch) in NRC Handelsblad.
My ‘duck paper’ was noticed, amongst others, by the Board of Governors of the Ig Nobel prize. In 2003, they awarded me the Ig Nobel prize in the field of biology. This award is given annualy at Harvard University to ten (groups of) researchers in different fields of science for ‘achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think’. Since I won the Ig Nobel prize for my duck paper, my life changed quite a bit. I became deeply involved in Improbable Research, the US-based organization that awards the Ig Nobel prizes and publishes the science-humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Together with my stuffed duck (the first-ever
recorded victim of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard, kept in the collection of the Natural History Museum Rotterdam), I lectured about ‘the duck’ in the US, the UK, Italy and the Netherlands. Many people were inspired by my observation of the mallards, and I received numerous reports of homosexual or necrophilic behavior in birds - but the combination of the two has not yet been documented again.
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