Prostitution Thrives in Antarctica, Local Currency Only

September 3, 2019 6:52 AM

Though penguins are known for their bonded pairings, researchers studying Adélie penguins have found that some female penguins will copulate with other males in exchange for rocks used in nest-building. Video (SFW, even penguin offices). Oh, and it's not just penguins.
posted by If only I had a penguin... (12 comments total)

"But researchers are still studying the phenomenon, and a consensus has not yet been reached; it is assumed that either the female is baiting, or that the male deliberately chooses to misinterpret the gesture..."

I could have used these researchers to study my prom night.
posted by Capt. Renault at 7:08 AM on September 3, 2019

I watched some nature documentary where male birds (in Africa) build elaborate trash nests, and court female birds by flaunting and offering them prize bits of trash. The showed how some male birds would steal prize bits of trash from each other by, as they claimed, pretending to be a flirty female bird. So this behavior doesn't sound too unique to me.
posted by muddgirl at 7:53 AM on September 3, 2019 [1 favorite]

a researcher observed what appeared to be a monkey exchanging a disc for sex. The monkey that was paid for sex immediately traded the silver disc for a grape. The researcher subsequently took steps to prevent any possibility of coins being traded for sex.[7]

Not only does this seem strangely projecting it also seems to be self defeating in a study about monkey economic behaviour.
posted by Mitheral at 8:01 AM on September 3, 2019 [14 favorites]

From the original article paraphrased in the Wikipedia page:

Something else happened during that chaotic scene, something that convinced Chen of the monkeys' true grasp of money. Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of money, after all, is its fungibility, the fact that it can be used to buy not just food but anything. During the chaos in the monkey cage, Chen saw something out of the corner of his eye that he would later try to play down but in his heart of hearts he knew to be true. What he witnessed was probably the first observed exchange of money for sex in the history of monkeykind. (Further proof that the monkeys truly understood money: the monkey who was paid for sex immediately traded the token in for a grape.)

This is a sensitive subject. The capuchin lab at Yale has been built and maintained to make the monkeys as comfortable as possible, and especially to allow them to carry on in a natural state. The introduction of money was tricky enough; it wouldn't reflect well on anyone involved if the money turned the lab into a brothel. To this end, Chen has taken steps to ensure that future monkey sex at Yale occurs as nature intended it.

It appears the researchers slut-shamed that study into irrelevance due to their inability to keep their moralizing out of their science.
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:08 AM on September 3, 2019 [20 favorites]

Alternately, Male Penguins Proactive About Child Support Payments

(I mean, they're rocks for building nests. This is basic reproductive fitness stuff, isn't it? Am I missing something?)
posted by Tess of the d'Urkelvilles at 8:48 AM on September 3, 2019 [9 favorites]

Twenty rocks.. same as in town.
posted by majorsteel at 9:01 AM on September 3, 2019 [13 favorites]

A new contender for most eponysterical post. If you only had a penguin, indeed.
posted by skewed at 9:14 AM on September 3, 2019 [4 favorites]

PENGUINS CHEAT TO GET THEIR ROCKS OFF
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:15 AM on September 3, 2019 [3 favorites]

What he witnessed was probably the first observed exchange of money for sex in the history of monkeykind

I believe this behaviour has previously been observed in Pan sapiens.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 10:17 AM on September 3, 2019 [2 favorites]

I realized that I already knew about penguin and simian 'prostitution' because MGTOWs and incels have used it as proof of the awfulness of all females.
posted by LindsayIrene at 10:48 AM on September 3, 2019 [1 favorite]

i'm fucking cackling MADLY about the scene of monkey direct action which led to the Scandalous Event

Once, a capuchin in the testing chamber picked up an entire tray of tokens, flung them into the main chamber and then scurried in after them -- a combination jailbreak and bank heist -- which led to a chaotic scene in which the human researchers had to rush into the main chamber and offer food bribes for the tokens, a reinforcement that in effect encouraged more stealing.
posted by poffin boffin at 11:03 AM on September 3, 2019 [8 favorites]

PENGUINS CHEAT TO GET THEIR ROCKS OFF

That’s it. I’m calling a lawyer. (Anyone know any that work for rocks?)
posted by azpenguin at 7:51 PM on September 3, 2019 [2 favorites]