On Oct 10, 2006, at 1:01 PM, Christian wrote: > Tim, the title is "Gang Rape." Rape is the act of forced sex on a > victim. The only way to describe what male mallards do to females > during breeding season is gang rape. Trust me, I've watched it > over and > over again, the females are not a willing participant. When a > group of > young males goes after a female the females try very, very hard to get > away. What else would you call it? Biologists call it rape.
A book I looked at recently estimated that at least half of all mallard inseminations are forcible. I don't think that's unique to their species: nature is pretty rough when you look at it. Last year I saw a couple of males mallards chasing a female on a quiet road, and when they caught her they were so eager that they ended up piled three-high which, aside from the predicament of the female, I found highly amusing. I wished I had my camera with me. A few weeks ago my partner was feeding some of the ducklings on our river when another mother duck came along and started trying to drown the first mother's ducklings so hers could have all the bread to themselves. Apparently she wasn't very successful. The other species of duck that inhabit this city don't seem to behave anywhere near as badly, but we only have mallards this far upstream. Sometimes I wish the river had more eels... - Dave -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
