On a remote and mostly desolate sub-Antarctic island, researchers have discovered that fur seals are chasing and raping penguins in an exhibition of extreme sexual behavior.
The incident has been captured on video, the details of which have been published in the Polar Biology journal in a study entitled Multiple occurrences of king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) sexual harassment by Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella).
The scientists that recorded the shocking sexual behavior of the fur seals are not completely surprised, as they have already seen it happen back in 2006.
In 2006, on the Sub-Antarctic Island known as Marion Island, the scientists saw a fur seal forcing itself upon a king penguin. The team published the details of what happened, speculating that the sexual behavior they witnessed could have been caused by a seal's sexual inexperience or frustration. They also though that perhaps the behavior was a predatory act by the fur seal, or maybe a playful gesture that became sexual in nature.
"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," Nico de Bruyn said, who is from the Mammal Research Institute at the University of Pretoria in South Africa.
The island is routinely monitored by scientists, as they search for unusual behavior among the animals.
A team of researchers led by de Bruyn and William Haddad saw three separate incidents of young seals sexually forcing themselves upon penguins. Two of the instances happened in Goodhope Bay, while the other happened on Funk beach. The first instance back in 2006 happened on Trypot beach.
In all four instances, the researchers witnessed a seal chase and mount a penguin in an attempt to copulate with it. The seals attempted to rape the penguins several times, with each time lasting around five minutes.
In some attempts, the seals were able to penetrate the penguins through their openings named cloaca, through which male and female penguins also mate.
In three incidents, the fur seal allowed the penguin to run free after the animal was done. However, in one instance, the seal finished by eating and killing the penguin, which the fur seals usually prey upon.
The recorded incidents are the only ones wherein animals from different biological classes have been known to mate, with these incidents occurring between a mammal and a bird.
Speculation among the scientists, especially after the most recent observations, is that the sexual advances on penguins are turning into a learned behavior for the fur seals on the island. The fur seals could be copying other seals that are chasing and raping the penguins.
Scientists are also thinking that the fur seals could be practicing their sexual skills on the penguins, or that the young males were releasing sexual frustration that was building up as they were not yet strong enough to be able to collect and defend harems of female seals.
