Seals have been observed raping penguins on the sub-Antarctic Marion Island, and no one knows why.
Several male fur seals have been caught on video attempting to seduce king penguins recently, and these findings have just been published in the journal Polar Biology.
This deviant behavior isn’t a completely new phenomenon on the island, the BBC reports.
The first report that seals were trying to mate with penguins was way back in 2006, when scientists observed what they would later describe as “a case of interspecific sexual harassment bridging the rank of vertebrate class.”
At that time, their best guess was that the unbelievably grotesque act was perpetrated by a sexually inexperienced or frustrated young seal. They suspected it might have been an aggressive act, perhaps even an attempt at playfulness that went horribly awry. Fur seals have always caught and ate penguins on the island.
Nico de Bruyn, a scientist at the Mammal Research Institute at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, was understandably taken aback when the seals were seen raping harmless penguins, a live-and-let-live species if there ever was one:
“Honestly I did not expect that follow up sightings of a similar nature to that 2006 one would ever be made again, and certainly not on multiple occasions,” he said. “This really made us sit up and take notice.”
What’s weirder? The report suggests that sex with penguins is a learned behavior.
As de Bruyn explained, “Seals have capacity for learning –we know this from their foraging behavior for example.” So, fur seals could be picking up the behavior after watching their friends.
There doesn’t seem to be any relief in sight for the poor king penguins of Marion Island, who not only have to avoid being eaten, but now have to avoid being raped.
“I genuinely think the behavior is increasing in frequency,” de Bruyn said.
He added that there doesn’t seem to be any reason that the seals would ever do something like this. “If this is learned behavior, we really can’t think of what the reward may be for these young males.”
“Other than perhaps learning that these birds are an easier target to practice their copulatory skills,” de Bruyn continued, a damning accusation contra the sexually frustrated fur seal community. None of the males were old or large or charismatic enough to defend seal harems.
Researchers noted that the seals would chase, capture and mount the penguins before “coercing” them several times. The attempts at copulation lasted only about five minutes, and the seals needed periods of rest in between.
Scientists think that the seals might have actually succeeded in penetrated the penguins on several occasions, through an all-purpose opening shared by male and female penguins.
In three out of four recorded incidents, the penguin escaped –or the seal let it go. But in the fourth incident, the seal devoured the penguin after attempts at sex.