Behold the most majestic of God’s creatures—the agile Japanese macaque and the elegant sika deer—as they bone in the forest for all to see. An abomination? No—an orgasm.
And a consensual one, scientists say in a new paper. It is, reportedly, the first recorded instance of two dissimilar animal species doing it by choice.
The researchers, who—God bless them—must have watched this 2015 video thousands of times, have apparently concluded the deer featured within actually wanted the monkey to mount it, hump it, and then come on its back for all to see. “This is what you got a degree for?” both their mothers and mine are asking right now. Anyway, a summary of their findings, via The Independent:
Japanese macaques have in the past been known to ride along on deer. But the researchers say that the monkey in the new study “showed clear sexual behaviour towards several female deer”. Some of those deer tried to escape – but others apparently consented to the behaviour and “accepted the mount”, the researchers write in the journal Primates.
The researchers wrote that one deer “seemed to accept to be ridden by the male macaque”, and that it was apparently licking sperm that had been deposited on its back by the monkey. Another deer refused the mount and threw the macaque off its back.
Something something “monkey on your back” joke. It’s Friday, right?