During my research for an article on animal homosexual behaviour (see here: https://steemit.com/stemstem/@holothewise/homosexuality-in-nature-an-evolutionary-perspective) I came across a gem of a study, conducted by sciences from the University of Lethbridge, Canada. In a population of macaques where they were studying female homosexual behaviour, they found that the females were also reacting sexually to Sika deer.
Now apparently it's not unknown for them to mount and ride the deer around, but these ladies clearly have something else in mind...
The team have stated that theirs is: "the first quantitative study of sexual interactions between a non-human primate and a non-primate species."
Based on mounting behaviour and the fact the monkeys make the same calls when mounting deer as during sex with conspecifics, the researchers have concluded these are genuine sexual interactions. Possible reasons for the behaviour include sexual practice by young females and alternatives for sexual behaviour when rejected by other potential partners.
You can check out a full article here: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/12/japanese-macaques-sika-deer-sexual-interactions-spd/
and the team's research paper here:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jean-Baptiste_Leca/publication/321732677_Deer_mates_A_quantitative_study_of_heterospecific_sexual_behaviors_performed_by_Japanese_macaques_toward_Sika_deer/links/5a2f0c7faca2726d0bd6ae04/Deer-mates-A-quantitative-study-of-heterospecific-sexual-behaviors-performed-by-Japanese-macaques-toward-Sika-deer.pdf
Well, as always, nature is stranger than fiction. Happy Steeming People,
The Wise Fox