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Monkeys mounting and humping deer, even pulling on their antlers
Japanese macaques are occassionaly seen mounting and attempting to mate with sika deer. Researchers hypothesize this might be a way to relieve sexual tension for adolescents and low-rankers. Read more in this article.
There's some unusual monkey business happening on an island in Japan.
On December 11, scientists at the University of Lethbridge in Canada published a paper revealing what appear to be sex acts between young female Japanese macaques and sika deer. The wild monkeys were observed mounting the deer in Minoo, central Japan.
Similar monkey-deer interactions on Yakushima Island were reported in January 2017. Locals in Minoo most likely have been observing these behaviors since at least 2014, says study co-author Noëlle Gunst. But while the previous research is based on anecdotal evidence, the current work focuses on the numbers.
This is what the world’s rarest animal sounds like.
[part 2 of series] → Prehensile Tails
Part 2 of Wildlife Wednesdays’ series about tails is dedicated to a very helpful feature some animals possess: prehensile tails!
Tails can have many functions; for some animals they are vital, for others they might be more of an accessory. Prehensile tails are tails that have adapted to be able to hold or grasp objects. Prehensile tails can be extremely useful for movement and for food gathering or nest building.
Not all prehensile tails are super precise in grasping. Tails that can be used to grasp smaller objects such as food and carry them or manipulate them with precision are referred to as fully prehensile, whereas tails that can only help in swinging from branch to branch or holding on to branches are partially prehensile.
Most animals with prehensile tails are New World species (most in South and Central America), suggesting that the specifics of New World forests might be what caused the evolution of prehensile tails.
Some animals with fully prehensile tails are spider monkeys and howler monkeys. Some might even have a little bare tactile pad.
Another cool animal with a fully prehensile tail - and the only one from order Carnivora - is the Kinkajou.
Animals with partially prehensile tails include capuchin monkeys, possums, chameleons, potoroos.
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