“An Antarctic fur seal has been observed trying to have sex with a king penguin. The South African-based scientists who witnessed the incident say it is the most unusual case of mammal mating behaviour yet known. The incident, which lasted for 45 minutes and was caught on camera, is reported in the Journal of Ethology. The bizarre event took place on a beach on Marion Island, a sub-Antarctic island that is home to both fur seals and king penguins. Why the seal attempted to have sex with the penguin is unclear. But the scientists who photographed the event speculate that it was the behaviour of a frustrated, sexually inexperienced young male seal. Equally, it might be been an aggressive, predatory act; or even a playful one that turned sexual. ‘At first glimpse, we thought the seal was killing the penguin,’ says Nico de Bruyn, of the Mammal Research Institute at the University of Pretoria, South Africa… The 100kg seal first subdued the 15kg penguin by lying on it. The penguin flapped its flippers and attempted to stand and escape — but to no avail… The seal then alternated between resting on the penguin, and thrusting its pelvis, trying to insert itself, unsuccessfully. After 45 minutes the seal gave up, swam into the water and then completely ignored the bird it had just assaulted, the scientists report. Why a fur seal would indulge in such extreme sexual behaviour is unclear. Sexual coercion among animals is extremely common: males of many species often harass, coerce or force females of their own kind to mate, while animals are also known occasionally to harass sexually a member of a closely related species… But this is thought to be the first recorded example of a mammal trying to have sex with a member of another class of vertebrate, such as a bird, fish, reptile, or amphibian.” — BBC (UK)

You ever read George Orwell’s Animal Farm? It’s a satire in which animals play the role of revolutionaries who overthrow the human owners of their farm. When you read about a seal raping a penguin, it is difficult not to think that this is a sort of sexualized version of Animal Farm. The seal is a man, or perhaps man in general. The penguin is anything that can serve as a victim of the impulse to rape. The “inexperienced young male seal” is aggressive? So is the inexperienced young male human. The act occupies some ambiguous territory between sex and violence? Same for human rape. The seal wanders off afterward without showing the least care for his victim? Sounds familiar. In Animal Farm, the animals rise up against their oppressors. In Penuin Farm, unfortunately, the penguin can’t manage it.

Incidentally, the BBC article does feature pictures of this inter-species attempt at rape. It makes you wonder. Why would the same news outlet refrain from publishing pictures of a human doing the same thing to a penguin? We’re all just mammals.

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