Reminds me of refugees. So cute and cuddly until they start raping.
The Guardian: Dr Derek Spielman, a senior lecturer in veterinary pathology, says it is ‘gross misunderstanding’ to think kangaroo was cradling dying mate.
Far from “mourning the loss of his mate”, the male kangaroo pictured in “heartbreaking” viral photographs with its injured female “companion” might have been responsible for her death while attempting to mate with her, experts say.
The images, taken on a bushland property in River Heads, Queensland, Australia, show a male eastern grey kangaroo holding the head of a dying female, in front of her joey…
But Dr Derek Spielman, a senior lecturer in veterinary pathology at the University of Sydney, told Guardian Australia that he had “no doubt” that the male was in fact attempting to mate with the female animal – and might have caused the injuries that she died from.
He said the photographs showed the male kangaroo “mate guarding” – holding other males at bay.
“Competition between males to mate with females can be fierce and can end in serious fighting,” he said. “It can also cause severe harassment and even physical abuse of the target female, particularly when she is unresponsive or tries to get away from amorous male.
“Pursuit of these females by males can be persistent and very aggressive to the point where they can kill the female. That is not their intention but that unfortunately can be the result, so interpreting the male’s actions as being based on care for the welfare of the female or the joey is a gross misunderstanding, so much so that the male might have actually caused the death of the female.”
Spielman added that, though he thought the term was often misunderstood and misused, the reporting of the viral photographs had been “naive anthropomorphism”.
