Wednesday 5 June 2019 is the 24th edition of Dead Duck Day. At exactly 17:55 h we will honor the mallard duck that became known to science as the first (documented) ‘victim’ of homosexual necrophilia in that species, and earned its discoverer (me) the 2003 Ig Nobel Biology Prize. [programma in Nederlands]
Dead Duck Day also commemorates the billions of other birds that die(d) from colliding with glass buildings, and challenges people to find solutions to this global problem.
Please join the free, short open-air ceremony next to the new wing of the Natural History Museum Rotterdam (the Netherlands), right below the new Dead Duck Memorial Plaque — the very spot where that duck (now museum specimen NMR 9989-00232) met his dramatic end.
This is what will happen: [not necessarily in this sequence]
- The traditional Ten Seconds of Silence.
- News about prevention of bird-glass collisions.
- Review of this year’s (animal) necrophilia news: applause for Graham Fulton for publishing the first necrophilia case in the bridled tern (Onychoprion anaethetus) in Australia.
- Celebration of the 60th anniversary of Bob Dickerman‘s observation of ‘Davian Behaviour Complex in Ground Squirrels‘ – being the first fully documented case of homosexual necrophilia in a non-human mammal.
- O.C. Hooymeijer shares is profound knowledge of ducks, based on his recently published ‘De Nieuwe Gids voor de Niet-Bestaande Vogels van Europa‘ [‘New Guide to the Non-Existing Birds of Europe’].
- The special ‘Dead Duck Day Message’, send in by crow researcher dr Kaeli Swift, author of the 2018 paper ‘Occurrence and variability of tactile interactions between wild American crows and dead conspecifics’.
- Celebration of the German translation of the book ‘De eendenman’ [‘Der Entenmann]: those who show up wearing an original Dead Duck Day t-shirt may win a signed copy.
- A six-course duck dinner, after the ceremony.
The traditional six-course (dead) duck dinner at the famous Tai Wu Restaurant is also open to the public (at your own expense). Reserve your seat by e-mailing to: info [at] hetnatuurhistorisch.nl
More on (the history of) Dead Duck Day: here. And for Dutch readers: here.
Kees Moeliker 