Thursday, June 08, 2006
♂ Penguins cheat too!!
Apparently, female penguins are willing to trade sex for "money".. or in their case, stones to build their nest.
"To wit, Adelie penguins regularly steal stones from fellow nest-builders to fortify their own, even though they get pecked and chased in the process. More surprising yet is the recent discovery that some females resort to peddling their bodies in exchange for the precious pebbles."
Penguins are usually very protective of their material possessions.. just as we are protective of ours.. we keep our money in the bank. However, in the penguin world, there is no such thing as a Savings account, so the only vault that they have are their beaks and flippers to beat the hell out of any robbers. However...
"Given nest owners’ violent reactions to birds that try to steal their stones, Hunter was surprised and amused when she saw a female waddle off with a stone from an unattached male’s nest—while he looked on calmly. The female had just mated with him."
Now that's one very satisfied male penguin. Some females are also really good with swiping the stones.
"In each case, a female penguin left her mate and made her way to a single male at his nest. She stood nearby and gazed at him. When he flirted with her in the penguin way, giving her a sidelong glance and bowing his head, she followed suit. The hopeful male then stepped off his platform of stones, allowing her to waddle on. Leaving no uncertainty about what she was there for, she lay face down on the nest, and the male mounted and mated with her. Afterward, she got up, picked up a stone with her beak, and without further ado, went back to her own nest. In half of the cases, the female returned to the same single male for a second stone, although they did not mate again. In one instance, a female made off with a total of ten stones."
Sometimes, the female manages to run off with their precious commodity without having to fall victim to the male's libido. "Often the females took stones away from the males without offering sex in return. The females would flirt exactly as before, only they would skip the mating and take off with a stone. “It’s as if she takes the money and runs,” says Davis. Strangely, none of the males protested, though a few tried unsuccessfully to mount the females. One of the females came back for no fewer than 62 stones within the space of an hour. “These males are not very intelligent,” laughs Davis."
I guess it's not that the males are not intelligent. They are just avoiding embarassment. Humans do that too. I've never heard of anyone mugged by a prostitute trying to get his money back.
http://www.calacademy.org/calwild/2004spring/stories/materialgirls.html
12:32 PM
