A male Japanese macaque monkey has been observed attempting to mate with two female sika deer in a rare case of inter-species mating behaviour.
Footage, captured by scientists on Japan’s Yakushima Island, was also written about in an article published in the journal Primates.
The article says the monkey clearly showed “sexual behaviour towards several female deer.”
While the scientists could not pinpoint the exact reason for the monkey’s behaviour, they say the most realistic reason is “mate deprivation, which states that males with limited access to females are more likely to display this behaviour.”
The scientists say it is only the second recorded example of sexual relations between two distantly related species.
The only previous reported case was that of an Antarctic fur seal observed sexually harassing king penguins – and in one instance, eating a bird after having sex with it, The Guardian reports.
Japanese macaques living on Yakushima are a distinct sub-species to those found in the rest of Japan. They live in a mountainous island of about 500 sq km with much of which it protected as a Unesco World Natural Heritage site.