Most people think ducks are quasi comical animals that are quite cute. This perception comes from being taken to feed the ducks at a local pond when we were small children and watching cartoons such as Donald Duck or Daffy Duck. Psychologist Richard Wiseman and colleagues at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, finished a year-long LaughLab experiment, concluding that of all animals, ducks attract the most humour and silliness; he said, “If you’re going to tell a joke involving an animal, make it a duck.” The word “duck” may have become an inherently funny word in many languages, possibly because ducks are seen as silly in their looks or behaviour. But ducks, particularly the males aka drakes have a very, very dark side.

In the duck world males, or drakes, outnumber females, or hens, by a considerable margin. This means that females can afford to be very choosey. Indeed, according to Yale ornithology Professor Richard O. Prum  “For a male duck to land a female, he must boast colourful plumage plus have an elaborate dance mating ritual and beautiful mating calls. In other words, he needs to be a beauty, plus a great singer and dancer.” Unfortunately most drakes don’t make the grade. So what’s a terminally frustrated young drake going to do? Well they hang out with a bunch of other drakes and wait for a hen to get within range and then they gang rape her. According to Professor Prum “These are socially organised ‘gang rapes’ that are ‘violent, ugly, dangerous and even deadly’ and even sometimes end in the death of the female.”.

 

 

This was precisely the scenario that played out on my visit to Bernard Park the other day to photograph Australian Reed Warblers. In the swan enclosure at the eastern end of the park, there were a number of ducks. The first I saw was a Hardhead hen and her brood of ducklings calmly cruising and looking for food. There were also four Pacific Black Duck drakes milling around on the water. I didn’t pay much attention because they are ubiquitous on Australian waterways and I was there photographing Reed Warblers.  Suddenly a huge commotion erupts when a hen Pacific Black Duck lands on the water. The drakes suddenly spring into action and give chase. All four proceed to rape her. It was incredibly violent and the poor hen was left barely able to drag herself to shore and hide under some bushes.