Expert: Roger Lederer - 4/13/2010

Question
Today I saw something quite distressing, on my local river. I saw what I thought at first was just a drake and hen mating on the water, but when I looked again I saw that the drake was actually holding the hen under the water and I was sorry to see that he actually succeeded in drowning her. There was another drake nearby who was pecking at him and trying to pull him away, but sadly he could not do so. I think the second drake was probably her mate as he stayed there for ages afterwards and seemed to be "defensive" whenever any other drakes came nearby. My question is, why would a drake deliberately drown a hen?

Answer
There is a behavior which is described as "rape" in which several male ducks attack a female. Normally, a male holds the neck of the female while he mates with her in the water. Occasionally she goes under water. When several males do it at about the same time, sometimes the female drowns. This may not seem very nice to use, but it is very common. I've had a number of questions about this,and sad as it may seem, is perfectly normal.