By: Earnest Jones | 12-16-2017 | Weird
Photo credit: theguardian.com

Bizarre: Sex Between Snow Monkeys and Sika Deer

Researchers have suggested that the sexual interactions between snow monkeys and sika deer could be a new behavioural tradition within a group of monkeys observed in Japan.

The media was first filed with reports of a male Japanese macaque, or snow monkey, and female sika deer taking to each other. The behavior has been described as sexual by scientists after scrutinising adolescent females suggestively interacting with stags at Minoo in Japan.

“The monkey-deer sexual interactions reported in our paper may reflect the early stage development of a new behavioural tradition at Minoo,” said Dr Noëlle Gunst-Leca, co-author of the study from the University of Lethbridge in Canada.

The sexual interactions between closely related species have been seen for all manner of animals, from various species of fish to species of baboon.

A study that was conducted earlier this year revealed that a male Japanese macaque had been filmed mounting a female Sika deer at Yakushima island in southern Japan. Gunst-Leca said it wasn’t clear quite what was going on.

“They were dealing with a single anecdotal event between one individual monkey and one individual deer, and the description they provided was short, vague and out of context,” she said. “As a result, even the sexual nature of this interaction was not clearly demonstrated.”

During the latest study that was published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, Gunst-Leca and colleagues describe how they sought to unpick whether the intentions were indeed carnal. During the investigation, the team recorded the behaviour of snow monkeys at Minoo, north of Osaka in Japan. With only adolescent female monkeys spotted mounting deer, the team compared the interactions to sexual interactions between adolescent female monkeys.

The team recorded 12 successful interactions between monkeys, involving six adolescent females, between November 2012 and January 2013 – with a total of 67 mounts by the monkeys. In addition, 13 successful interactions of an apparently sexual nature were recorded between monkeys and deer between early November 2014 and January 2015, involving five adolescent females and a total of 258 mounts.

The analysis of the animals’ behaviour revealed no clear difference between the adolescent female snow monkeys and other females or deer when it came to how often they sought such attentions, mounted their partner, how long they spent on their partner, or even their orientation.

According to Dr. Cédric Sueur of the University of Strasbourg, a co-author of the study released earlier this year, said the monkey-deer liaisons might be a nascent relationship.

“It is maybe a new/innovative behaviour that can be socially transmitted and will spread,” he said. “Monkeys do this according to the sex ratio at the reproductive season: if females cannot have access to males, they can have homosexual relations or relations with a deer.”

Sexual interactions observed involved a male deer, with the majority involving an adult male: two female deer and three young males courted by the monkeys simply reared up, unseating them.

“Also, heterospecific mounts between Japanese macaques and sika deer have not been observed outside their coinciding mating seasons,” said Gunst-Leca.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/dec/15/sex-between-snow-monkeys-and-sika-deer-may-be-new-behavioural-tradition

Bizarre: Sex between Snow Monkeys and Sika deer

Researchers have suggested that the sexual interactions between snow monkeys and sika deer could be a new behavioural tradition within a group of monkeys observed in Japan.

The media was first filed with reports of a male Japanese macaque, or snow monkey, and female sika deer taking to each other. The behavior has been described as sexual by scientists after scrutinising adolescent females suggestively interacting with stags at Minoo in Japan.

“The monkey-deer sexual interactions reported in our paper may reflect the early stage development of a new behavioural tradition at Minoo,” said Dr Noëlle Gunst-Leca, co-author of the study from the University of Lethbridge in Canada.

The sexual interactions between closely related species have been seen for all manner of animals, from various species of fish to species of baboon.

A study that was conducted earlier this year revealed that a male Japanese macaque had been filmed mounting a female Sika deer at Yakushima island in southern Japan. Gunst-Leca said it wasn’t clear quite what was going on.

“They were dealing with a single anecdotal event between one individual monkey and one individual deer, and the description they provided was short, vague and out of context,” she said. “As a result, even the sexual nature of this interaction was not clearly demonstrated.”

During the latest study that was published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, Gunst-Leca and colleagues describe how they sought to unpick whether the intentions were indeed carnal. During the investigation, the team recorded the behaviour of snow monkeys at Minoo, north of Osaka in Japan. With only adolescent female monkeys spotted mounting deer, the team compared the interactions to sexual interactions between adolescent female monkeys.

The team recorded 12 successful interactions between monkeys, involving six adolescent females, between November 2012 and January 2013 – with a total of 67 mounts by the monkeys. In addition, 13 successful interactions of an apparently sexual nature were recorded between monkeys and deer between early November 2014 and January 2015, involving five adolescent females and a total of 258 mounts.

The analysis of the animals’ behaviour revealed no clear difference between the adolescent female snow monkeys and other females or deer when it came to how often they sought such attentions, mounted their partner, how long they spent on their partner, or even their orientation.

According to Dr. Cédric Sueur of the University of Strasbourg, a co-author of the study released earlier this year, said the monkey-deer liaisons might be a nascent relationship.

“It is maybe a new/innovative behaviour that can be socially transmitted and will spread,” he said. “Monkeys do this according to the sex ratio at the reproductive season: if females cannot have access to males, they can have homosexual relations or relations with a deer.”

Sexual interactions observed involved a male deer, with the majority involving an adult male: two female deer and three young males courted by the monkeys simply reared up, unseating them.

“Also, heterospecific mounts between Japanese macaques and sika deer have not been observed outside their coinciding mating seasons,” said Gunst-Leca.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/dec/15/sex-between-snow-monkeys-and-sika-deer-may-be-new-behavioural-tradition

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Anonymous No. 14132 2017-12-17 : 09:24

This open for so many humorous comments and cartoons frames.

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