This is the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam, where I work as a curator. It's my job to make sure the collection stays okay, and that it grows, and basically it means I collect dead animals. Back in 1995, we got a new wing next to the museum. It was made of glass, and this building really helped me to do my job good. The building was a true bird-killer. You may know that birds don't understand the concept of glass. They don't see it, so they fly into the windows and get killed. The only thing I had to do was go out, pick them up, and have them stuffed for the collection. (Laughter) And in those days, I developed an ear to identify birds just by the sound of the bangs they made against the glass.
Ky eshte muzeu Natyral Historik ne Roterdam, ku une punoj si pergjegjes. Eshte pjese e punes time perkujdesja qe koleksioni te qendroje mire, dhe qe te rritet, cka me pak fjale nenkupton se une mbledh kafshe te egra. Ne 1995, u shtua nje seksion i ri prane nderteses se muzeut. Ishte nje seksion i teri prej xhami, kjo ndertese e xhamte me ndihmoi shume per te bere nje pune te mire. Ajo ishte nje vrastare e vertete zogjsh. Ndoshta e dini, por zogjte nuk e njohin konceptin e xhamit. Ata nuk e shohin, dhe fluturojne ne dritare ku me perplasjen gjejne vdekjen. E vetmja gje qe duhej te beja ishte te dilja jashte, ti mblidhja, dhe ti ballcamosja per koleksionin. (Te qeshura) Gjate asaj periudhe, zhvillova nje aftesi per te identifikuar zogjte vetem nepermjet perplasjes qe benin me xhamin.
And it was on June 5, 1995, that I heard a loud bang against the glass that changed my life and ended that of a duck. And this is what I saw when I looked out of the window. This is the dead duck. It flew against the window. It's laying dead on its belly. But next to the dead duck is a live duck, and please pay attention. Both are of the male sex. And then this happened. The live duck mounted the dead duck, and started to copulate.
Ishte data 5 qershor 1995, kur degjova nje "bang" te zhurmshem ne xham. Ky "bang" ndryshoi jeten time dhe i dha fund jetes se nje rose. Dhe kjo ishte ajo c'ka pashe tek veshtrova jashte dritares.. Kjo eshte rosa e ngordhur, qe u perplas pas nderteses se xhamte. Qendron e ngordhur barkazi. Por, prane roses se ngordhur qendron nje rose e gjalle, ju lutem beni kujdes. Te dyja jane gjinia mashkullore. Me pas ndodhi kjo. Rosa e gjalle iu afrua asaj te ngordhures, dhe filloi ciftezimin.
Well, I'm a biologist. I'm an ornithologist. I said, "Something's wrong here." One is dead, one is alive. That must be necrophilia. I look. Both are of the male sex. Homosexual necrophilia.
Epo, une jam biolog. Jam ornitologjist. Mendova, "Dicka nuk vete mire ketu." Njeri eshte i ngordhur, tjetri i gjalle. Duhet te jete nekrofili. I veshtrova. Te dy te gjinise mashkullore. Nekrofili homoseksuale.
So I -- (Laughter)
Keshtu une-- (Te qeshura)
I took my camera, I took my notebook, took a chair, and started to observe this behavior. After 75 minutes — (Laughter) — I had seen enough, and I got hungry, and I wanted to go home. So I went out, collected the duck, and before I put it in the freezer, I checked if the victim was indeed of the male sex. And here's a rare picture of a duck's penis, so it was indeed of the male sex. It's a rare picture because there are 10,000 species of birds and only 300 possess a penis.
Nxorra aparatin fotografik, nxorra bllokun e shenimeve, mora nje karrike dhe fillova te vezhgoj sjelljen e tyre. Pas 75 minutash-- (Te qeshura)-- Pashe mjaftueshem. Me mori uria dhe desha te ikja ne shtepi. Dola jashte, mora rosen, dhe perpara se ta fusja ne ngrirje, kontrollova nese viktima ishte me te vertete e gjinise mashkullore. Dhe ja nje fotografi e rralle e organit produktiv te roses, pra ishte me te verete e gjinise mashkullore. Eshte nje fotografi e rralle sepse ekzistojne 10,000 lloje zogjsh dhe vetem 300 prej tyre kane nje organ riprodhimi mashkullor.
[The first case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard Anas platyrhynchos (Aves:Anatidae)]
[Ky ishte rasti i pare i nekrofilise homoseksuale i roses se eger Anas platyrhynchos (Aves:Anatidae)]
I knew I'd seen something special, but it took me six years to decide to publish it. (Laughter) I mean, it's a nice topic for a birthday party or at the coffee machine, but to share this among your peers is something different. I didn't have the framework. So after six years, my friends and colleagues urged me to publish, so I published "The first case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard." And here's the situation again. A is my office, B is the place where the duck hit the glass, and C is from where I watched it. And here are the ducks again.
E dija se kisha pare dicka te vecante, por mu deshen gjashte vite per te vendosur ta publikoja. (Te qeshura) Dua te them, eshte nje subjekt mjaft i mire per nje feste ditelindjeje ose historia e duhur kur je duke pritur kafen te makineta, por ta tregosh midis kolegeve te tu, eshte dicka krejt ndryshe. Nuk e kisha kornizen e duhur. U deshen gjashte vite, qe miqte dhe koleget te me detyronin ta publikoja, dhe publikova "Rasti i pare i nekrofilise homoseksuale tek rosat e egra." Dhe ja ku u krijua e njejta situate serish. A eshte zyra ime, B eshte vendi ku rosa u perplas me xhamin, dhe C eshte vendi nga ku une isha ulur te vezhgoja. Edhe nje here rosat.
As you probably know, in science, when you write a kind of special paper, only six or seven people read it. (Laughter) But then something good happened. I got a phone call from a person called Marc Abrahams, and he told me, "You've won a prize with your duck paper: the Ig Nobel Prize." And the Ig Nobel Prize — (Laughter) (Applause) — the Ig Nobel Prize honors research that first makes people laugh, and then makes them think, with the ultimate goal to make more people interested in science. That's a good thing, so I accepted the prize. (Laughter)
Sikunder mund ta dini, ne shkence, kur shkruan nje artikull te vecante, vetem gjashte ose shtate njerez e lexojne. (Te qeshura) Por me pas dicka e mire ndodhi. Mora nje telefonate prej dikujt te quajtur Marc Abrahams, i cili me tha, "Ti ke fituar nje cmim me artikullin e roses: Cmimin Nobel lg." Cmimi Nobel lg--- (Te qeshura) (Duartrokitje)-- Cmimi Nobel lg nderon hulumtimin qe me pare i ben njerezit te qeshin dhe me pas te mendojne, me qellimin kryesor berjen e sa me shume njerezve te interesuar ne shkence. Kjo eshte dicka e mire, ndaj vendosa ta pranoj cmimin. (Te qeshura)
I went -- let me remind you that Marc Abrahams didn't call me from Stockholm. He called me from Cambridge, Massachusetts. So I traveled to Boston, to Cambridge, and I went to this wonderful Ig Nobel Prize ceremony held at Harvard University, and this ceremony is a very nice experience. Real Nobel laureates hand you the prize. That's the first thing. And there are nine other winners who get prizes. Here's one of my fellow winners. That's Charles Paxton who won the 2000 biology prize for his paper, "Courtship behavior of ostriches towards humans under farming conditions in Britain." (Laughter) And I think there are one or two more Ig Nobel Prize winners in this room. Dan, where are you? Dan Ariely? Applause for Dan. (Applause) Dan won his prize in medicine for demonstrating that high-priced fake medicine works better than low-priced fake medicine. (Laughter)
Shkova-- lejomeni t'ju kujtoj se Marc Abrahams nuk me telefonoi nga Stokholmi. Ai me telefonoi nga Cambridge, Massachusetts. Udhetova drejt Bostonit, Cambridge, dhe u bera pjese e ceremonise se mrekullueshme te Cmimeve Nobel lg i mbajtur ne Universitetin e Harvardit. Kjo ceremoni ishte nje eksperience mjaft e kendshme. Laureate te vertete Nobel te japin cmimin. Ky eshte elementi i pare. Ka dhe nente fitues te tjere te Cmimit Nobel lg. Nje prej kolegeve te mi fitues ishte Charles Paxton i cili fitoi cmimin ne vitin 2000 ne biologji per artikullin e tij, "Sjellja flirtuese e strucit me njerezit ne nje ferme te Mbreterise se Bashkuar" (Te qeshura) Mendoj se ka dhe nja dy tre te tjere fitues Cmimi Nobel lg ne kete salle. Dan, ku je? Dan Ariely? Duartrokitje per Dan. (Duartrokitje) Dani e fitoi cmimin e tij ne mjekesi per demonstrimin se ilace fallco me cmim te larte jane me efikase se ilace fallco me cmime te ulta (Te qeshura)
So here's my one minute of fame, my acceptance speech, and here's the duck. This is its first time on the U.S. West Coast. I'm going to pass it around. (Laughter) Yeah? You can pass it around. Please note it's a museum specimen, but there's no chance you'll get the avian flu.
Pra, kjo eshte minuta ime e fames, fjalimi im i pranimit, dhe ja ku eshte rosa. Kjo eshte hera e pare ne brigjet perendimore te Shteteve te Bashkuara, Do e kaloj dore me dore. (Te qeshura) Po? Mund ta kaloni dore me dore. Lutem, kini parsysh qe eshte nje specie muzeale, por pa frike, nuk do mund te infektoheni me gripin avian
After winning this prize, my life changed. In the first place, people started to send me all kinds of duck-related things, and I got a real nice collection. (Laughter) More importantly, people started to send me their observations of remarkable animal behavior, and believe me, if there's an animal misbehaving on this planet, I know about it.
Pas fitimit te ketij cmimi, jeta ime ndryshoi. Si fillim, nejerezit filluan te me dergonin gjithcka qe mund te kish lidhje me rosat, cka krijuan nje koleksion mjaft te kendshem. (Te qeshura) Me e rendesishmja, njerezit filluan te me dergonin vezhgimet e sjelljeve te kafsheve qe binin ne sy, dhe besomeni, nese ka ndonje sjellje jo te zakonshme te ndonje kafshe ne kete planet, une e marr vesh i pari.
(Laughter)
(Te qeshura)
This is a moose. It's a moose trying to copulate with a bronze statue of a bison. This is in Montana, 2008. This is a frog that tries to copulate with a goldfish. This is the Netherlands, 2011. These are cane toads in Australia. This is roadkill. Please note that this is necrophilia. It's remarkable: the position. The missionary position is very rare in the animal kingdom. These are pigeons in Rotterdam. Barn swallows in Hong Kong, 2004. This is a turkey in Wisconsin on the premises of the Ethan Allen juvenile correctional institution. It took all day, and the prisoners had a great time.
Ky eshte nje dre brilopate. Nje dre brilopate qe po perpiqet te ciftohet me nje statuje bizoni prej bronxi. Kjo tjetra ka ndodhur ne Montana ne 2008. Ky eshte rasti i nje bretkose qe perpiqet te ciftezohet me nje peshk te kuq. Kjo tjetra ka ndodhur ne Hollande ne 2011. Keto jane zhaba kallamash ne Australi. Keto jane kafshet qe vriten rrugeve automobilistike. Lutem, vereni me kujdes se kjo eshte nekrofili. Pozicioni, eshte mbreselenes. Pozicioni misionar eshte shume i rralle ne mbreterine e kafsheve. Keto jane pellumba ne Roterdam. Zogjte gushkuq ne Hong Kong 2004. Ky eshte nje gjel deti ne Wisconsin ne ambientet e institucionit korrektues per te rinjte, Ethan Allen. Zgjati gjithe diten, dhe te burgosurit u zbaviten pa mase.
So what does this mean? I mean, the question I ask myself, why does this happen in nature? Well, what I concluded from reviewing all these cases is that it is important that this happens only when death is instant and in a dramatic way and in the right position for copulation. At least, I thought it was till I got these slides. And here you see a dead duck. It's been there for three days, and it's laying on its back. So there goes my theory of necrophilia.
Pra, c'do te thote kjo? Dua te them, ajo cka e pyes veten, eshte, a ndodh kjo ne natyre? Perfundimi qe kam arritur nga rishikimi i te gjitha ketyre rasteve eshte se eshte e rendesishme qe kjo te ndodhe vetem ne rast kur vdekja eshte e pernjehereshme dhe ne nje menyre dramatike dhe ne pozicionin e duhur per ciftezim. Ose, keshtu mendova deri ne momentin qe mora keto faqe. Ketu shihni nje rose te ngordhur. ka tre dite qe qendron aty. i shtrire ne kurriz. Ja pra ku del dhe teoria ime e nekrofilise.
Another example of the impact of glass buildings on the life of birds. This is Mad Max, a blackbird who lives in Rotterdam. The only thing this bird did was fly against this window from 2004 to 2008, day in and day out. Here he goes, and here's a short video.
Nje tjeter shembull i impaktit te nderteses se xhamte ne jeten e zogjve. Ky eshte Mad Max, nje zog i zi qe jeton ne Roterdam. E vetmja gje qe beri ky zog eshte te perplasej me kete dritare nga 2004 ne 2008, cdo dite. Ja si ndodh, dhe ja nje video e shkurter ilustrative.
(Music) (Clunk) (Clunk) (Clunk) (Clunk)
(Muzike) (Perplasje) (Perplasje) (Perplasje)
So what this bird does is fight his own image. He sees an intruder in his territory, and it's coming all the time and he's there, so there is no end to it. And I thought, in the beginning -- I studied this bird for a couple of years -- that, well, shouldn't the brain of this bird be damaged? It's not. I show you here some slides, some frames from the video, and at the last moment before he hits the glass, he puts his feet in front, and then he bangs against the glass.
Dhe ajo c'ka ben zogu eshte te luftoj imazhin e tij. Ai sheh nje te huaj te padeshiruar ne territorin e tij, i cili vjen sa here ai vete eshte aty, dhe qe nuk resht kurre. Ne fillim--pasi e studiova kete zog per disa vite-- mendova a nuk duhet te kish ndonje demtim ne tru ky zog? Po nuk eshte keshtu. Po ju tregoj disa faqe, disa foto nga videot dhe ne momentin e fundit para se ai te godase xhamin, ai vendos kembet perpara, dhe me pas perplaset ne xham.
So I'll conclude to invite you all to Dead Duck Day. That's on June 5 every year. At five minutes to six in the afternoon, we come together at the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam, the duck comes out of the museum, and we try to discuss new ways to prevent birds from colliding with windows. And as you know, or as you may not know, this is one of the major causes of death for birds in the world. In the U.S. alone, a billion birds die in collision with glass buildings. And when it's over, we go to a Chinese restaurant and we have a six-course duck dinner.
Po e perfundoj fjalen time duke ju ftuar te gjitheve ne "Diten e rosave te Ngordhura". Kjo dite eshte data 5 qeshor e cdo viti. Ne oren gjashte pa pese, ne mblidhemi ne Muzeun e Historise Natyrale te Roterdamit, rosa del nga muzeu, dhe ne perpiqemi te diskutojme rreth menyrave te reja per ti parandaluar zogjte te perplasen ne dritare. Dhe sikunder mund ta dini, ose mund te mos e dini, kjo eshte nje nga arsyet kryesore te vrasjes te zogjve ne mbare boten. Vetem ne U.S.A, nje miliard zogj ngordhin ne perplasje me xhamat e ndertesave. Kur te mbaroje kjo, shkojme te gjithe bashke ne nje restorant Kinez dhe hame nje darke te bollshme me baze rose.
So I hope to see you next year in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for Dead Duck Day. Thank you.
Shpresoj t'ju shoh vitin qe vjen ne Roterdam, Hollande, ne Diten e Roses se Ngordhur Faleminderit.
(Applause)
(Duartrokitje)
Oh, sorry. May I have my duck back, please?
Oh, me fal. A mund te ma ktheni rosen ju lutem?
(Laughter) (Applause)
(Te qeshura) (Duartrokitje)
Thank you.
Faleminderit.