ducks are monogomous...right?

here at the foxbox, we've come to know and love a beautiful pair of mallard ducks that hang out in our neighbourhood. sometimes they're on our front lawn, picking through the bits of trash to find some semblance of food scraps. sometimes they plop down in the middle of the driveway and rest for a bit. sometimes they get really close and start quacking at me (or maybe it's because i get really close, and that's why they quack...). at any rate, we've all kind of assumed that ducks mate for life -- someone had that tidbit of knowledge stashed away from early elementary school, and we totally ran with it. "awwww, so cute! look at mr. and mrs. mallard" et cetera, et cetera. after a month of bliss, i had a not so pleasant encounter this morning.

i saw three ducks flying overhead while i was walking up ezra street. they landed on a lawn about 20 feet from me. as i approached, i heard loud quacking and saw some...wrestling... then they disappeared around the corner. by the time i reached that point, what i saw caused me to stop dead in my tracks. poor mrs. mallard was being FOUGHT over!! except, she didn't seem so happy. she kept trying to escape, while the two drakes pecked and quacked at each other, beating the other off with wings and head. as soon as one would mount her, he'd just get going and the other drake would shove him off and jump on her back. AHHHHH!!!! THAT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!!! feeling a mixture of disbelief and anger at the stupid horny drakes, i continued my walk home, determined to figure out what the crap just happened.

as it turns out, wikipedia had some enlightening information for me. apparently not all the drakes match up with a female; whoever is 'left out' will band together. "This group will sometimes target an isolated female duck — chasing, pestering and pecking at her until she weakens (a phenomenon referred to by researchers as rape flight), at which point each male will take turns copulating with the female." does this shock anyone else?! i kind of thought that rape was a tragedy only known by our species, but poor, single female ducks also experience aggressive sexual dominance by their male counterparts.

i feel like i was still an innocent little girl, up until this morning's revelations, that thought that cute little animals were nice to each other. my feminist inclinations definitely rile up at the thought of a woman being attacked -- and now i know that that feeling carries over to "the weaker sex" of other species too. can someone get a lawyer for poor mrs. mallard? i think she needs a divorce.