Penguins being bad like humans (what a shocker!)

[KilljoyKlown]

Was it because it's hard to make a case that some humans are being unnatural if animals are doing it?

Penguins' graphic sexual acts shocked researcher

Hidden for nearly 100 years for being too "graphic," a report of "hooligan" behaviors, including sexual coercion, by Adelie penguins observed during Captain Scott's 1910 polar expedition have been uncovered and interpreted.

The naughty notes were rediscovered recently at the Natural History Museum in Tring, in England, and published in the recent issue of the journal Polar Record.

George Levick, a surgeon and the medical officer on Scott's famous 1910-1913 expedition to the South Pole, called the Terra Nova expedition, detailed his account of the penguins' seemingly odd behaviors in a four-page pamphlet "Sexual Habits of Adélie Penguins" in 1915. (The expedition, led by Navy Captain Robert Falcon Scott, would arrive at the South Pole to discover that Amundsen had beaten them there.

During their journey, Levick observed and recorded details on the lives of the Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) colony on Cape Adare. He even recorded the very first penguin to the colony — the world's largest of this species — on Oct. 13, 1911.

"Some of the things he noticed profoundly shocked him," said the museum's bird curator Douglas Russell, who discovered the pamphlet. For instance, Levick noted the penguins' autoerotic tendencies, and the seemingly aberrant behavior of young unpaired males and females, including necrophilia, sexual coercion, sexual and physical abuse of chicks, non-procreative sex and homosexual behaviors. [Top 10 Swingers of the Animal Kingdom]

Considered too explicit for society at the time, the pamphlet wasn't published with the other Terra Nova expedition reports. As such, it remained hidden in the bird collections at the museum to be uncovered recently by Russell.

"Levick's notes were decades ahead of their time and possibly the first ever attempt to reveal the more challenging aspects of bird behavioral strategies to the academic world," Russell said in a statement.

At the time, Levick was so shocked by what he saw he recorded the events in Greek to disguise the information, at one point writing, "There seems to be no crime too low for these penguins."

Natural History Museum

George Levick's "Sex Habits of Adelie Penguins" was written in 1915 and described some behaviors that shocked the surgeon and avid zoologist.

Levick described penguins that waddled about the colony's outskirts terrorizing any straying chicks as "little knots of hooligans" in his pamphlet. "The crimes which they commit are such as to find no place in this book, but it is interesting indeed to note that, when nature intends them to find employment, these birds, like men, degenerate in idleness."

Homosexual behaviors in animals are no longer cause for hiding data, or even a blush. (Case in point: Dutch biologist Kees Moeliker won an Ig Nobel prize in 2010 for the first report of dead gay duck sex.)

Plenty of animals are out of the closet, so to speak, from dolphins and killer whales to bonobos and greylag geese. Some estimates put the number of animal species that practice same-sex coupling at 1,500.

And while Levick may have viewed the interactions between penguins through an anthropomorphic lens, today that's not the case, the researchers note.

Necrophilia, for instance, is not the same in penguins and humans; Rather than being sexually aroused by a hot gal, male penguins are chemically wired to respond in certain ways to a seemingly compliant female of breeding age.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47761038...1#.T9YMi7VXlLc

[Saturnine Pariah]

[Ripley]

Penguins being bad like humans (what a shocker!)

Bad like humans?? I doubt very much humans could permit themselves such… sensuous exuberances without feeling the necessity to apologize for it first—like, "I'm so hot baby, so hot. Oh yeah, oh yeah, come on baby, come on. Yeah, yeah. Oh God, oh yeah…"

Imagine the penguin moaning such sacrileges during the moment? Lol.

[KilljoyKlown]

Sorry if I ruined your image of wholesome penguins. But if my image can be shattered why should I be alone in my feelings?

[KilljoyKlown]

Bad like humans?? I doubt very much humans could permit themselves such… sensuous exuberances without feeling the necessity to apologize for it first—like, "I'm so hot baby, so hot. Oh yeah, oh yeah, come on baby, come on. Yeah, yeah. Oh God, oh yeah…"

Imagine the penguin moaning such sacrileges during the moment? Lol.

Hi Riply, have we met before? I see you've been around for a while but I don't remember you. By the way, what's with penguin youth gangs molesting the babies and the dead?

[Ripley]

Hi Riply, have we met before? I see you've been around for a while but I don't remember you.

Does it matter?

Anyway.

By the way, what's with penguin youth gangs molesting the babies and the dead?

And? What's your point?

[KilljoyKlown]

Does it matter?

Anyway.

And? What's your point?

No point, just looking for a response from you, and I can see that might be like pulling teeth.

[Ripley]

Nice.

But I regret to say that you're not much of an inspiration. Although the topic is exceptional.

[Epictetus]

Hi Klown. Have you seen this? I know you'll love it. Proves your point that animals are just like people. Or is your point that people are no better than animals? Well, whatever.

[KilljoyKlown]

Hi Klown. Have you seen this? I know you'll love it. Proves your point that animals are just like people. Or is your point that people are no better than animals? Well, whatever.

Your right I did like it. People are animals and that fact seems to slip everyone's mind. Especially when it's some thing that reminds them they are just an animal.

[KilljoyKlown]

Nice.

But I regret to say that you're not much of an inspiration. Although the topic is exceptional.

I don't necessarily care about being an inspiration to anyone. But I do care about finding interesting topics and having a bit of fun to boot.

[R1D2]

Your right I did like it. People are animals and that fact seems to slip everyone's mind. Especially when it's some thing that reminds them they are just an animal.

there is a song I am reminded of here. We ain't nothing but mammals let's -- it like they do on the discovery channel.. ( I will not be d-ing that now).

not like the penguins!

[KilljoyKlown]

there is a song I am reminded of here. We ain't nothing but mammals let's -- it like they do on the discovery channel.. ( I will not be d-ing that now).

not like the penguins!

In all fairness you can't judge all penguins by a few bad apples.

[aaqucnaona]

I am watching earlier episodes of southpark [I was 5 when it first aired] and when Chef started singing, I couldnt help but think of this.

[Saturnine Pariah]

Sorry if I ruined your image of wholesome penguins. But if my image can be shattered why should I be alone in my feelings?

Misery loves company.

[KilljoyKlown]

Misery loves company.

Yes I've heard that. But penguins being bad doesn't cause me much misery.

(what a shocker!) ---> I was being just a bit sarcastic here.

[Saturnine Pariah]

Well...i can never watch "March of the Penguins" the same way again. Even with Morgan Freeman's soothing, relaxing voice...it will never be the same. No matter how hard you scrub you'll never be clean. NEVER BE CLEAN!!

[KilljoyKlown]

Well...i can never watch "March of the Penguins" the same way again. Even with Morgan Freeman's soothing, relaxing voice...it will never be the same. Not matter how hard you scrub you'll never be clean. NEVER BE CLEAN!!

Yes I've seen some pictures that I wish I could unsee <Fat Chance of That>.

[Saturnine Pariah]

Yes I've seen some pictures that I wish I could unsee <Fat Chance of That>.

Truer words have never been spoken good sir.