Sasha
8th April 2011, 18:23
Prostitution and Penguins (http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/04/08/prostitution-and-penguins)
Posted by Charles Mudede (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/ArticleArchives?author=237) on Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 8:23 AM
This might be old news to you, but it is new news to me (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/60302.stm):
Penguins are turning to prostitution. But instead of doing it for money, Antarctic dolly-birds are turning tricks to get rocks off their menfolk. Stones are essential for penguins to build their nests. A shortage has led to the unorthodox tactics.
"Stones are the valuable currency in penguin terms," said Dr Fiona Hunter, a researcher in the Zoology Department at Cambridge University.
All of the female penguins Dr Hunter observed trading sex for stones had partners. Penguins stick to the same mate, she said, but none of the males twigged what was happening. "There was no suspicion on the part of the males. Females quite often go off on their own to collect stones, so as far as the males are concerned there is no reason to suspect." She added: "It tends to be females targeting single males, otherwise the partner female would beat the intruder up."
Remember The March of the Penguins? Remember how conservatives loved that dumb doc because it showed the greatness of monogamy (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/13/science/13peng.html)? Well, you know exactly what I'm thinking.
Posted by Charles Mudede (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/ArticleArchives?author=237) on Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 8:23 AM
This might be old news to you, but it is new news to me (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/60302.stm):
Penguins are turning to prostitution. But instead of doing it for money, Antarctic dolly-birds are turning tricks to get rocks off their menfolk. Stones are essential for penguins to build their nests. A shortage has led to the unorthodox tactics.
"Stones are the valuable currency in penguin terms," said Dr Fiona Hunter, a researcher in the Zoology Department at Cambridge University.
All of the female penguins Dr Hunter observed trading sex for stones had partners. Penguins stick to the same mate, she said, but none of the males twigged what was happening. "There was no suspicion on the part of the males. Females quite often go off on their own to collect stones, so as far as the males are concerned there is no reason to suspect." She added: "It tends to be females targeting single males, otherwise the partner female would beat the intruder up."
Remember The March of the Penguins? Remember how conservatives loved that dumb doc because it showed the greatness of monogamy (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/13/science/13peng.html)? Well, you know exactly what I'm thinking.