The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $384,949 grant to Yale University for a study on “Sexual Conflict, Social Behavior and the Evolution of Waterfowl Genitalia”, according to the recovery.govwebsite.
The grant description says,“The project examines how reproductive morphology covaries with season, age, and social environment in a diverse sample of duck species that differ in ecology, territoriality and breeding system.”
Now before you get all, “but Emily, the National Science Foundation is supposed to do science and this is science, and what about those owls that vomited all over Oregon that we studied” and yes, you’re right. The government does fund a lot of weird things through the National Science Foundation because they have a notable impact. The owl vomit they were studying, for example, linked environmental factors to the decline of snowy owls in the Pacific Northwest, and many of the grants passed through the NSF are disbursed to universities who then decide which study gets funded through a competitive process, and that could be the case here.
But duck penis length? Really? We cancelled grammar school tours of the White House so we could understand what ducks can eat to make their peckers longer? We discontinued the egg roll in favor of understanding egg fertilization? But I say to you, America, have you ever seen a duck penis? Because it is terrifying. And in case you didn’t know, all those cute little mallards you see swimming with their adorable babies? Yeah, they be raping everybody up in this piece.
http://nakeddc.com/2013/03/21/federal-study-of-totally-crazy-duck-penises-not-interrupted-by-budget-cuts/