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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nihil who wrote (35140)	4/19/1999 11:14:00 AM
From: jbe	Respond to of 108807

More tidbits on the sexual behavior of animals. 1) Do animals commit rape? I could not resist asking my animal behaviorist brother this question when he called Sunday night. The answer: probably yes. But, and I quote, "scientists don't like to talk about it, for two reasons -- one bad, and one good." The bad reason is: it is not politically correct to talk about rape. (!!!) Hahahahaha...Sound familiar? The good reason is: what looks like rape may not be rape. Closer examination may reveal it to be something else. Example: extra-pair matings of birds. According to my brother, whose research specialty these days is birds (specifically their songs), less than half of the eggs in a typical bank swallow's nest are "legitimate", i.e., have been fertilized by the resident "husband and father." At first, the general assumption was that randy neighbors had imposed their attentions on the "mother". But my brother, who has spent years spying on bank swallows, says that in fact it is the females who go looking for "outside sex". So, it's adultery rather than rape. And it's a wise bird who knows his own father. On the other hand, mallards appear to be really truly rapists. At least, this is the opinion of the many angry folks who visit, or live near, Washington state's Green Lake, and have written to the newspapers protesting the mallard behavior! (Is the solution to put the mallards in jail, or castrate them, or what??) 2) Will animals commit necrophilia, or copulate with an inanimate substitute? The answer to both questions is -- yes, if they are barn swallows. As bait, my brother put out some bird corpses, as well as some stuffed birds (no inflatable bird dummies were available). In both cases, the males who came to investigate the bait left their sperm on it. Which means -- oh, horrors! Joan