5 ms·

Putting the “crow” in necrophilia

51 points by ericdanielski 8y ago

rossdavidh 8y ago
Ew.
aaron695 8y ago
Releated - June 5th is dead duck day - http://deadduckday.com/ http://deadduckday.com/
trhway 8y ago
> This may be because the crow is less experienced, or more aggressive, or has some neurological issue with suppressing inappropriate responses. in case of for example seals having sex with penguins http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141117-why-seals-have-sex-with-penguins http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141117-why-seals-have-sex-w... : "young male seals sexually coercing what appeared to be healthy penguins of unknown gender. ... The seals were not yet old or large enough to defend harems of female seals, explained de Bruyn."
nasredin 8y ago
>>That said, in nearly a quarter of cases, crows did make some kind of contact with dead crows. Like with mammals, we saw that these behavior could be exploratory, aggressive and in rare cases even sexual (about 4% of crow presentations resulted in attempted copulations), with the latter two behaviors being biased towards the beginning of the breeding season. Importantly, the latter two categories of interactions were rarely expressed independently, and it was often a mixture of the first two; in rare cases, all three. In the most dramatic examples, a crow would approach the dead crow while alarm calling, copulate with it, be joined in the sexual frenzy by its presumed mate, and then rip it into absolute shreds.
throwaway66666 8y ago
Truly nature's goths! (referring to the gothic subculture that has a fascination for the macabre and dark :) )
projektir 8y ago
Ah, more material for my "nature is garbage" bucket.
- acqq 8y ago
  More like "the garbage is when some humans claim that this or that is unnatural (without ever checking what happens in the nature)." All kinds of for us surprising behavior could be really found in the nature. Edit: See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17636963 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17636963 It's not "garbage" it's all nature. Including humans.
  - projektir 8y ago
    That, too, but I reserve the right to call things garbage when that's what they look like, as well.
acqq 8y ago
Also, two male ducks, one of them dead, a scientific paper, 2001: "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" http://www.hetnatuurhistorisch.nl/fileadmin/user_upload/documents-nmr/Publicaties/Deinsea/Deinsea_08/Deinsea_8_15_Moeliker_.pdf http://www.hetnatuurhistorisch.nl/fileadmin/user_upload/docu... The talk about it: https://www.ted.com/talks/kees_moeliker_how_a_dead_duck_changed_my_life/transcript?language=en https://www.ted.com/talks/kees_moeliker_how_a_dead_duck_chan... "Kees Moeliker: How a dead duck changed my life"
rubzah 8y ago
An overly active sexual response occurs in many species, like a small dog humping your leg. Hell, there are plenty bizarre examples of what human males might resort to when the urge overpowers them. I don't see why researchers would be so shocked by this. Unless maybe for the attention garnering.

51 points by ericdanielski 8y ago

rossdavidh 8y ago

Ew.

aaron695 8y ago

Releated - June 5th is dead duck day - http://deadduckday.com/ http://deadduckday.com/

trhway 8y ago

> This may be because the crow is less experienced, or more aggressive, or has some neurological issue with suppressing inappropriate responses. in case of for example seals having sex with penguins http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141117-why-seals-have-sex-with-penguins http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141117-why-seals-have-sex-w... : "young male seals sexually coercing what appeared to be healthy penguins of unknown gender. ... The seals were not yet old or large enough to defend harems of female seals, explained de Bruyn."

nasredin 8y ago

>>That said, in nearly a quarter of cases, crows did make some kind of contact with dead crows. Like with mammals, we saw that these behavior could be exploratory, aggressive and in rare cases even sexual (about 4% of crow presentations resulted in attempted copulations), with the latter two behaviors being biased towards the beginning of the breeding season. Importantly, the latter two categories of interactions were rarely expressed independently, and it was often a mixture of the first two; in rare cases, all three. In the most dramatic examples, a crow would approach the dead crow while alarm calling, copulate with it, be joined in the sexual frenzy by its presumed mate, and then rip it into absolute shreds.

throwaway66666 8y ago

Truly nature's goths! (referring to the gothic subculture that has a fascination for the macabre and dark :) )

projektir 8y ago

Ah, more material for my "nature is garbage" bucket.

acqq 8y ago
More like "the garbage is when some humans claim that this or that is unnatural (without ever checking what happens in the nature)." All kinds of for us surprising behavior could be really found in the nature. Edit: See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17636963 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17636963 It's not "garbage" it's all nature. Including humans.
- projektir 8y ago
  That, too, but I reserve the right to call things garbage when that's what they look like, as well.

acqq 8y ago

Also, two male ducks, one of them dead, a scientific paper, 2001: "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" http://www.hetnatuurhistorisch.nl/fileadmin/user_upload/documents-nmr/Publicaties/Deinsea/Deinsea_08/Deinsea_8_15_Moeliker_.pdf http://www.hetnatuurhistorisch.nl/fileadmin/user_upload/docu... The talk about it: https://www.ted.com/talks/kees_moeliker_how_a_dead_duck_changed_my_life/transcript?language=en https://www.ted.com/talks/kees_moeliker_how_a_dead_duck_chan... "Kees Moeliker: How a dead duck changed my life"

rubzah 8y ago

An overly active sexual response occurs in many species, like a small dog humping your leg. Hell, there are plenty bizarre examples of what human males might resort to when the urge overpowers them. I don't see why researchers would be so shocked by this. Unless maybe for the attention garnering.