Celebrate the 19th Dead Duck Day, on June 5th 2014

Thursday June 5th, 2014 is Dead Duck Day, arriving exactly one year after last year’s Dead Duck Day. At exactly 17:55 h we will honor the mallard duck that became known to science as the first (documented) ‘victim’ of homosexual necrophilia in that species, and earned its discoverer, Kees Moeliker, the 2003 Ig Nobel Biology Prize.

Please join the short open-air ceremony next to the new wing of the Natural History Museum Rotterdam (the Netherlands), right below the new Dead Duck Memorial Plaque, where that duck (now museum specimen NMR 9989-00232) met his dramatic end.

This is what will happen

Commemorate the life and death of NMR 9989-00232, the mallard-duck, which is now has a special exhibit in the museum.
Review (maybe even sing part of) ‘The Homosexual Necrophiliac Duck Opera’, composed and conducted by Daniel Gillingwater and originally performed by soprano Sarah Redmond and the Egde Ensemble (the world-premiere of this mini-opera was 14 March 2014 at Imperial College, London, as part of the Ig Nobel Tour of the UK).
Honour the new book by Menno Schilthuizen ‘Nature’s Nether Regions’. This book devoted almost two pages to ‘The duck’ and Dead Duck Day.
Read the special Dead Duck Day Message, this year written by Linda Lombardi, author of the book Animals Behaving Badly .
Hear about the use of glass in modern architecture, and discuss ways to prevent birds from colliding with glass (buildings).
Enjoy the traditional six-course (dead) duck dinner at the famous Tai Wu Restaurant.More and practical information: click here (and here is the location [pictured below])

Feeling nostalgic? Dip into a brief history of Dead Duck Day.