What do you do when you see a male duck attempting to have sex with a dead male duck? Most would probably be a little weirded out and walk away. One biologist, however, saw a rare occurrence in nature, and decided to publish a study on it. That study earned him the prestigious Ig Nobel Prize, and a place in history.

The discovery of “gay dead duck sex” is the focal point of a recent TED talk that’s more fascinating than it sounds. In it, Dutch biologist Kees Moeliker, talks about his strange discovery, and how it has changed his life.

The moral of this story is that you might just win an award for writing studies about necrophilia in animals.

[h/t: LiveScience]