Ecology scientists were silent about
Appearances can be deceiving, and this can be said about some penguins. British scientist George Levick, who studied Adelie penguins during an expedition to Antarctica between 1910 and 1913 and wrote an account of their sexual behavior, including sexual behavior coercion shocked the editors so much that they decided to hide the details of penguin hooliganism.
Now, the piquant details have been rediscovered by the British National Museum of History in Tring.
The scientist observed and recorded details of the life of the Adelie penguin colony at Cape Adair. What he saw shocked him. For example, Levick noted the “autoerotic” tendencies of penguins, as well as unusual behavior in young males and females, including necrophilia, sexual abuse, and sexual and physical abuse chicks, non-procreation sex, and homosexual behavior.
Because all this was considered too revealing for the time, the report was never published, and it remained hidden among the museum's bird collections until it was recently discovered.
A researcher who studied penguins was so overwhelmed by what he saw that he even recorded information in Greek to hide the details, adding that “nothing is sacred to these penguins.”
One of the records, translated from Greek, says: “In the afternoon, I saw a penguin engage in an act of sodomy over the body of a dead bird of his kind. The act lasted a full minute, which, judging by the position of the penis, was different from normal copulation.”
In another recording, he said: “I saw another act of debauchery. The female, who was injured in some way, crawled on her stomach. Then a male came up and raped her intentionally, and she couldn't resist.
The scientist described penguins who roamed the outskirts of colonies, terrorizing all lost females, like a gang of hooligans.
Homosexual behavior, also seen in penguins, is no longer information worth hiding these days. Many animals, ranging from dolphins, orcas, bonobos and wild geese, are unconventional.
However, necrophilia in penguins is different from necrophilia in humans. Instead of being sexually aroused, male penguins are programmed to respond in certain ways to seemingly compliant females of childbearing age.