Image copyright AFP Image caption The macaque attempted to mate with at least two Sika deer 
 
 A male Japanese monkey has been filmed trying to mount and mate with a Sika deer. 
 
 Researchers saw the primate attempting to mate with at least two deer in November 2015, during the macaque breeding season. 
 
 The macaques regularly bathe in hot springs in snow-covered parts of Japan, and live side-by-side with the deer. 
 
 The macaques have previously been observed grooming the deer or riding them in a playful manner. 
 
 The curious behaviour is outlined in a study published in the journal Primates. 
 
 The monkey seemed to be a low-status male, who guarded his "love interests" by chasing away other male monkeys who came near. 
 
 Co-author Alexandre Bonnefoy commented: "The male mounted the deer and displayed some copulation behaviours, which included about 15 sexual movements over a period of 10 seconds, before dismounting." 
 
 It's not the first example of inter-species mating. In 2014, reports of an Antarctic fur seal coercing king penguins into sexual relations made headlines worldwide. ||||| Mating season has taken a strange turn for two normally platonic species on Japan’s Yakushima Island. 
 
 
 
 The Japanese macaque—better known as the snow monkey—has a good thing going with the island’s population of sika deer. As noted by a study in Primates, the monkeys groom the deer, drop food from the trees while foraging (which the deer eat), and poop (which the deer also eat). In return, the deer let themselves be ridden by the macaques—but just as friends. Until one lonely, troopless male was observed attempting to bang two of them. 
 
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 Things went as well as one could expect with the first deer, considering deer and monkeys are wildly different species whose respective genitalia aren’t generally designed to interact. As the study notes, “no penetration occurred ... However, ejaculation seemed to occur as the deer was seen licking the seminal liquid after the mount.” Gross! 
 
 The lonely monkey made a pass at a second snow deer, but “she attempted to escape/remove the macaque by moving... and displaying threats.” Can’t win ‘em all, bud. 
 
 Animals have been observed in the wild boning plenty of things that don’t look like them (like these butterflies) or engaging in sexual behavior that doesn’t result in offspring (bottlenose dolphins sure do love to jerk off). But attempting to bang an extremely distant species is so rare this is only the second time scientists have observed the phenomenon. 
 
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 Did this snow monkey think it was doing The Sex with another snow monkey and just goofed it up as badly as one can? Probably not. The study’s authors are proposing a “mate deprivation hypothesis,” which is to say the isolated macaque was a social outcast with no access to a female. Like many a horny idiot of any species, the monkey mistook friendship for flirtation. 
 
 Unfortunately, the study ends on a dour note: “We do not know if the male continued to follow the female deer the day after our observations.” I almost feel bad for him. 
 
 [Primates, The Guardian] ||||| Monkey’s unusual behaviour is only the second recorded observation of sexual interaction between distantly related wild animals 
 
 A male snow monkey has been observed attempting to have sex with female sika deer on Japan’s Yakushima Island, in an unusual example of interspecies mating behaviour. 
 
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 It is only the second recorded example of sexual relations between two distantly related species. 
 
 Snow monkeys and sika deer generally have a symbiotic relationship, with the deer eating fruits dropped from the trees by the monkeys and the monkeys grooming the deer and occasionally riding on their backs. 
 
 The latest paper, published in the journal Primates, describes how a low-ranking male monkey was observed repeatedly performing sexual mounts on at least two different female deer. One doe was seen to bolt and run off, but another female did not appear to object, and licked her side after the monkey ejaculated. 
 
 “This individual showed clearly sexual behaviour towards several female deer, some of which tried to escape whilst others accepted the mount,” the paper reports. 
 
 Marie Pelé, the lead author based at the University of Strasbourg in France, said: “No ambiguity is possible, it is clearly sexual behaviour.” 
 
 The only previous reported case of sexual interactions between two distantly related species, was that of an Antarctic fur seal observed sexually harassing king penguins – and in one instance, eating a bird after having sex with it. 
 
 'Sexual depravity' of penguins that Antarctic scientist dared not reveal Read more 
 
 “This macaque was a non-troop adult male, in other words low in hierarchy,” said Pelé. “He was therefore probably either peripheral or belonged to a group of peripheral males, as other males were observed in the vicinity of the deer.” 
 
 The monkey was also seen guarding the target of his affection and chasing away other male monkeys who came near. 
 
 The scientists said that “mate deprivation” was the most likely explanation for the unusual behaviour, after also considering the possibility that the male was learning to copulate or had failed to recognise that the deer was a member of another species. 
 
 
 
 “The most realistic hypothesis would be that of mate deprivation, which states that males with limited access to females are more likely to display this behaviour,” the researchers conclude.
– One lonely snow monkey in Japan is taking animal sexuality to strange new places. In a study published Tuesday in Primates, researchers documented a monkey having or attempting sexual relations with at least two sika deer. While one of the deer ran off, the monkey mounted another deer and ejaculated on its side, Gizmodo reports. According to the BBC, a co-author of the study says the act "included about 15 sexual movements over a period of 10 seconds." While sex between closely related species does happen, this is only the second time a sexual act between two distantly related species has been recorded, the Guardian reports. (The first was in 2006, involving an Antarctic fur seal and a penguin.) Snow monkeys and sika deer have had an up-until-now platonic relationship. Deer eat fruit dropped by the monkeys (as well as their poop), while the monkeys groom the deer and sometimes ride on their backs. In this case, however, the monkey was displaying "clearly sexual behavior," including chasing other monkeys away from the deer, notes the study. Researchers are blaming "mate deprivation," theorizing that the monkey—who has low social status—was suffering from "limited access to females." The incident happened during snow monkey breeding season. (Meanwhile, a North Korean zoo has a smoking chimp.)