The first recorded examples of bird providers have been observed in colonies of Adelie penguins on Ross Island, about 800 miles from the South Pole, by Dr Fiona Hunter of Cambridge University supported by the New Zealand Antarctic Programme.
Dr Hunter observed how male Adelies pay for sexual favours with rocks and stones, a limited resource that can prove crucial for the survival of broods. In no other bird have such extra-marital exchanges been recorded, said Dr Hunter, a post-doctoral researcher who has made annual visits to Antarctica to study their sex life.
She described how, at the start of the breeding season, the penguins hunt for stones. Once all the loose rocks have been collected, they attempt to peck them out of the frozen mud to construct a nest platform, crucial to keep eggs high and dry above mud and chilly melt water.
Stones are so valuable that they will steal them from each other, though they risk being attacked by the owners of the hard currency. In the journal Auk, Dr Hunter describes how females have developed another strategy: they lure nearby male penguins for sex in exchange for the rocks. "Females have figured out that one way to steal the stones without being attacked is to swap copulations for them," said Dr Hunter.
They slip away from their partner and wander over to the nest of an unpaired male. Standard courtship follows, with a dip of the head and a coy look from the corner of her eye. If he shows interest, she will lie prone which, in the language of penguin love, is an invitation to mate or carry out what the scientists call "extra-pair copulation".
Once mating is over, the female picks up her payment, a stone, and carries it to her nesting platform. Sometimes their customers are so satisfied that the females can return for second helpings of stones, without having to offer more sex. Other females found that a little courtship was enough to persuade a male to allow them to play with a rock, then cart it away. One especially teasing female managed to collect 62 stones this way, said Dr Hunter. "The males were probably duped into thinking that she was a possible partner."

["The males were probably duped into thinking that she was a possible partner."]

I hate when that happens.

Of course, their only interest is to protect the females from themselves.  Nothing more threatening to a society than females exerting their free will, and using their own bodies however they choose- especially if it's for their survival.  After all, if they're not kept dependent and helpless, they might reproduce and the idea could spread!

Better to shut down any mutually consentual trade of services, and have their nests and eggs be destroyed, than to allow them to survive utilizing such a practical and hamrless practice.  

It's for their own good.  After all, the  11th penguin Commandment says  "All Penguins Must Do What I Tell Them, Even if it Kills Them, Because Big Penquin Knows What's Best."  

What Dr. Hunter's report left out were the sting operations by the Penguin Police, whereby a female penguin would appear to have no stones for her nest and entice a male to help her out so that she might lay her eggs in a safe and protected environment, and thereby ensure the survival of her family.  Then, after the male took the bait, he'd be arreted and all his stones confiscated so that now his nest would be in jeopardy.  

But it's all for the greater good- Big Penguin said so.

"...Sometimes their customers are so satisfied that the females can return for second helpings of stones, without having to offer more sex...."

Hmm! Smart female penguin -- looks like she invented the tip. Unless I miss my guess, she was just returning to collect it.

I met a girl like this too, exchanging favors for,   ...oh wait, those crack rocks, nevermind

...aka, "Rip-Off Penguins."

--b.

Stolen from Frank Zappa!

TET

"Once mating is over, the female picks up her payment, a stone, and carries it to her nesting platform"


cuz evidently male penguins get away with something we human males can not ... not having to pay upfront ... thus avoiding the ole "stone-and-dash"

Read it again singlton. Some females only do the courtship dance then take a stone and leave without sex. In my book thats "stone and dash"

Service provider penguins have a serious challenge from those Bonobo providers! Bonobos are our closest primate cousins.

Here is a quote from Frans de Waal, Professor of Primate Behavior at Emory University. (Loretta is a provider. Vernon is hobbyist with a bundle of assets.)

"At the San Diego Zoo, I observed that if Loretta was in a sexually attractive state, she would not hesitate to approach the adult male, Vernon, if he had food. Presenting herself to Vernon, she would mate with him and make high-pitched food calls while taking over his ENTIRE BUNDLE of branches and leaves."

Primatologist Suehisa Kuroda reports similar exchanges at Wamba: "A young female approached a male, who was eating sugarcane. They copulated in short order, whereupon she took one of the two canes held by him and left."

Obviously the Mathesar Report hadn't come out yet so she could jack her prices further and take them both.