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Scientists Capture Rare Footage Of Seals Forcefully Trying To Have Sex With Penguins

Rare Footage Shows Seals Forcefully Trying To Have Sex With Penguins

It may be one of the most disturbing things you see today, and scientists on the Marion Island in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean find it just as unexpected.

Four different video observations show Antarctic fur seals sexually harassing helpless adult king penguins and trying to mate with them, according to findings in the journal Polar Biology. In the video above by Barcroft TV, scientists say they discovered the footage after studying the seals and killer whales on the island. Researchers were surprised with the hunting techniques these fur seals had to capture penguins.

After the first bizarre sighting in 2006, researchers have also come up with a few theories as to why seals were so sexually aggressive towards the island's penguins.

"Honestly I did not expect that follow-up sightings of a similar nature to that 2006 one would ever be made again, and certainly not on multiple occasions," researcher Nico de Bruyn of the Mammal Research Institute at the University of Pretoria, South Africa told the BBC.

Bruyn says seals often kill and eat penguins, but believes this hunting behaviour may have changed into a sexual one. Other sightings, however, demonstrate the reverse. Bruyn says after partaking in sexual behaviour, the seals ended up eating the penguins as well.

Watch the video above to find out more theories around these sexually frustrated seals, and the confusion researchers encountered with these particular ones.

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