Dead Duck Day
Somehow, I think some of you might be interested to know that today, June 5, is Dead Duck Day. No, not to worry, the little guy is fine, perched on my printer with that stupid little grin of his and constant shilling of insurance.
In case you aren’t familiar with the historic scientific event that Dead Duck Day commemorates, here’s the abstract from the Ig Nobel Prize-winning scientific paper it spawned, courtesy of the author:
On 5 June 1995 an adult male mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) collided with the glass façade of the Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam and died. An other drake mallard raped the corpse almost continuously for 75 minutes. Then the author disturbed the scene and secured the dead duck. Dissection showed that the rape-victim indeed was of the male sex. It is concluded that the mallards were engaged in an ‘Attempted Rape Flight’ that resulted in the first described case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard.
Science!
