Kees Moeliker: How a dead duck changed my life

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Iris Xholi Reviewer: Helena Bedalli

This is the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam,

Ky eshte muzeu Natyral Historik ne Roterdam,

where I work as a curator.

ku une punoj si pergjegjes.

It's my job to make sure the collection stays okay,

Eshte pjese e punes time perkujdesja qe koleksioni te qendroje mire,

and that it grows,

dhe qe te rritet,

and basically it means I collect dead animals.

cka me pak fjale nenkupton se une mbledh kafshe te egra.

Back in 1995,

Ne 1995,

we got a new wing next to the museum.

u shtua nje seksion i ri prane nderteses se muzeut.

It was made of glass,

Ishte nje seksion i teri prej xhami,

and this building really helped me to do my job good.

kjo ndertese e xhamte me ndihmoi shume per te bere nje pune te mire.

The building was a true bird-killer.

Ajo ishte nje vrastare e vertete zogjsh.

You may know that birds don't understand

Ndoshta e dini, por zogjte nuk e njohin konceptin e xhamit.

the concept of glass. They don't see it,

Ata nuk e shohin,

so they fly into the windows and get killed.

dhe fluturojne ne dritare ku me perplasjen gjejne vdekjen.

The only thing I had to do was go out,

E vetmja gje qe duhej te beja ishte te dilja jashte,

pick them up, and have them stuffed for the collection.

ti mblidhja, dhe ti ballcamosja per koleksionin.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

And in those days,

Gjate asaj periudhe,

I developed an ear to identify birds

zhvillova nje aftesi per te identifikuar zogjte

just by the sound of the bangs they made against the glass.

vetem nepermjet perplasjes qe benin me xhamin.

And it was on June 5, 1995,

Ishte data 5 qershor 1995,

that I heard a loud bang against the glass

kur degjova nje "bang" te zhurmshem ne xham.

that changed my life and ended that of a duck.

Ky "bang" ndryshoi jeten time dhe i dha fund jetes se nje rose.

And this is what I saw when I looked out of the window.

Dhe kjo ishte ajo c'ka pashe tek veshtrova jashte dritares..

This is the dead duck. It flew against the window.

Kjo eshte rosa e ngordhur, qe u perplas pas nderteses se xhamte.

It's laying dead on its belly.

Qendron e ngordhur barkazi.

But next to the dead duck is a live duck,

Por, prane roses se ngordhur qendron nje rose e gjalle,

and please pay attention.

ju lutem beni kujdes.

Both are of the male sex.

Te dyja jane gjinia mashkullore.

And then this happened.

Me pas ndodhi kjo.

The live duck mounted the dead duck,

Rosa e gjalle iu afrua asaj te ngordhures,

and started to copulate.

dhe filloi ciftezimin.

Well, I'm a biologist. I'm an ornithologist.

Epo, une jam biolog. Jam ornitologjist.

I said, "Something's wrong here."

Mendova, "Dicka nuk vete mire ketu."

One is dead, one is alive. That must be necrophilia.

Njeri eshte i ngordhur, tjetri i gjalle. Duhet te jete nekrofili.

I look. Both are of the male sex.

I veshtrova. Te dy te gjinise mashkullore.

Homosexual necrophilia.

Nekrofili homoseksuale.

So I -- (Laughter)

Keshtu une-- (Te qeshura)

I took my camera, I took my notebook,

Nxorra aparatin fotografik, nxorra bllokun e shenimeve,

took a chair, and started to observe this behavior.

mora nje karrike dhe fillova te vezhgoj sjelljen e tyre.

After 75 minutes — (Laughter) —

Pas 75 minutash-- (Te qeshura)--

I had seen enough, and I got hungry,

Pashe mjaftueshem. Me mori uria

and I wanted to go home.

dhe desha te ikja ne shtepi.

So I went out, collected the duck,

Dola jashte, mora rosen,

and before I put it in the freezer,

dhe perpara se ta fusja ne ngrirje,

I checked if the victim was indeed of the male sex.

kontrollova nese viktima ishte me te vertete e gjinise mashkullore.

And here's a rare picture of a duck's penis,

Dhe ja nje fotografi e rralle e organit produktiv te roses,

so it was indeed of the male sex.

pra ishte me te verete e gjinise mashkullore.

It's a rare picture because there are 10,000 species of birds

Eshte nje fotografi e rralle sepse ekzistojne 10,000 lloje zogjsh

and only 300 possess a penis.

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,

E dija se kisha pare dicka te vecante,

but it took me six years to decide to publish it.

por mu deshen gjashte vite per te vendosur ta publikoja.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

I mean, it's a nice topic for a birthday party

Dua te them, eshte nje subjekt mjaft i mire per nje feste ditelindjeje

or at the coffee machine,

ose historia e duhur kur je duke pritur kafen te makineta,

but to share this among your peers is something different.

por ta tregosh midis kolegeve te tu, eshte dicka krejt ndryshe.

I didn't have the framework.

Nuk e kisha kornizen e duhur.

So after six years, my friends and colleagues urged me to publish,

U deshen gjashte vite, qe miqte dhe koleget te me detyronin ta publikoja,

so I published "The first case of homosexual necrophilia

dhe publikova "Rasti i pare i nekrofilise homoseksuale

in the mallard."

tek rosat e egra."

And here's the situation again.

Dhe ja ku u krijua e njejta situate serish.

A is my office,

A eshte zyra ime,

B is the place where the duck hit the glass,

B eshte vendi ku rosa u perplas me xhamin,

and C is from where I watched it.

dhe C eshte vendi nga ku une isha ulur te vezhgoja.

And here are the ducks again.

Edhe nje here rosat.

As you probably know, in science,

Sikunder mund ta dini, ne shkence,

when you write a kind of special paper,

kur shkruan nje artikull te vecante,

only six or seven people read it.

vetem gjashte ose shtate njerez e lexojne.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

But then something good happened.

Por me pas dicka e mire ndodhi.

I got a phone call from a person called Marc Abrahams,

Mora nje telefonate prej dikujt te quajtur Marc Abrahams,

and he told me, "You've won a prize with your duck paper:

i cili me tha, "Ti ke fituar nje cmim me artikullin e roses:

the Ig Nobel Prize."

Cmimin Nobel lg."

And the Ig Nobel Prize —

Cmimi Nobel lg---

(Laughter) (Applause) —

(Te qeshura) (Duartrokitje)--

the Ig Nobel Prize honors research

Cmimi Nobel lg nderon hulumtimin

that first makes people laugh, and then makes them think,

qe me pare i ben njerezit te qeshin dhe me pas te mendojne,

with the ultimate goal to make more people

me qellimin kryesor berjen e sa me shume njerezve

interested in science.

te interesuar ne shkence.

That's a good thing, so I accepted the prize.

Kjo eshte dicka e mire, ndaj vendosa ta pranoj cmimin.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

I went -- let me remind you that Marc Abrahams

Shkova-- lejomeni t'ju kujtoj se Marc Abrahams

didn't call me from Stockholm.

nuk me telefonoi nga Stokholmi.

He called me from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Ai me telefonoi nga Cambridge, Massachusetts.

So I traveled to Boston, to Cambridge,

Udhetova drejt Bostonit, Cambridge,

and I went to this wonderful Ig Nobel Prize ceremony

dhe u bera pjese e ceremonise se mrekullueshme te Cmimeve Nobel lg

held at Harvard University, and this ceremony

i mbajtur ne Universitetin e Harvardit.

is a very nice experience.

Kjo ceremoni ishte nje eksperience mjaft e kendshme.

Real Nobel laureates hand you the prize.

Laureate te vertete Nobel te japin cmimin.

That's the first thing.

Ky eshte elementi i pare.

And there are nine other winners who get prizes.

Ka dhe nente fitues te tjere te Cmimit Nobel lg.

Here's one of my fellow winners. That's Charles Paxton

Nje prej kolegeve te mi fitues ishte Charles Paxton

who won the 2000 biology prize for his paper,

i cili fitoi cmimin ne vitin 2000 ne biologji per artikullin e tij,

"Courtship behavior of ostriches towards humans

"Sjellja flirtuese e strucit me njerezit

under farming conditions in Britain."

ne nje ferme te Mbreterise se Bashkuar"

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

And I think there are one or two more

Mendoj se ka dhe nja dy tre te tjere

Ig Nobel Prize winners in this room.

fitues Cmimi Nobel lg ne kete salle.

Dan, where are you? Dan Ariely?

Dan, ku je? Dan Ariely?

Applause for Dan.

Duartrokitje per Dan.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)

Dan won his prize in medicine

Dani e fitoi cmimin e tij ne mjekesi

for demonstrating that high-priced fake medicine

per demonstrimin se ilace fallco me cmim te larte

works better than low-priced fake medicine.

jane me efikase se ilace fallco me cmime te ulta

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

So here's my one minute of fame,

Pra, kjo eshte minuta ime e fames,

my acceptance speech,

fjalimi im i pranimit,

and here's the duck.

dhe ja ku eshte rosa.

This is its first time on the U.S. West Coast.

Kjo eshte hera e pare ne brigjet perendimore te Shteteve te Bashkuara,

I'm going to pass it around.

Do e kaloj dore me dore.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

Yeah?

Po?

You can pass it around.

Mund ta kaloni dore me dore.

Please note it's a museum specimen,

Lutem, kini parsysh qe eshte nje specie muzeale,

but there's no chance you'll get the avian flu.

por pa frike, nuk do mund te infektoheni me gripin avian

After winning this prize, my life changed.

Pas fitimit te ketij cmimi, jeta ime ndryshoi.

In the first place, people started to send me

Si fillim, nejerezit filluan te me dergonin

all kinds of duck-related things,

gjithcka qe mund te kish lidhje me rosat,

and I got a real nice collection.

cka krijuan nje koleksion mjaft te kendshem.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

More importantly,

Me e rendesishmja,

people started to send me their observations

njerezit filluan te me dergonin vezhgimet e sjelljeve

of remarkable animal behavior,

te kafsheve qe binin ne sy,

and believe me, if there's an animal misbehaving on this planet,

dhe besomeni, nese ka ndonje sjellje jo te zakonshme te ndonje kafshe ne kete planet,

I know about it.

une e marr vesh i pari.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

This is a moose.

Ky eshte nje dre brilopate.

It's a moose trying to copulate

Nje dre brilopate qe po perpiqet te ciftohet

with a bronze statue of a bison.

me nje statuje bizoni prej bronxi.

This is in Montana, 2008.

Kjo tjetra ka ndodhur ne Montana ne 2008.

This is a frog that tries to copulate with a goldfish.

Ky eshte rasti i nje bretkose qe perpiqet te ciftezohet me nje peshk te kuq.

This is the Netherlands, 2011.

Kjo tjetra ka ndodhur ne Hollande ne 2011.

These are cane toads in Australia.

Keto jane zhaba kallamash ne Australi.

This is roadkill.

Keto jane kafshet qe vriten rrugeve automobilistike.

Please note that this is necrophilia.

Lutem, vereni me kujdes se kjo eshte nekrofili.

It's remarkable: the position.

Pozicioni, eshte mbreselenes.

The missionary position is very rare in the animal kingdom.

Pozicioni misionar eshte shume i rralle ne mbreterine e kafsheve.

These are pigeons in Rotterdam.

Keto jane pellumba ne Roterdam.

Barn swallows in Hong Kong, 2004.

Zogjte gushkuq ne Hong Kong 2004.

This is a turkey in Wisconsin

Ky eshte nje gjel deti ne Wisconsin

on the premises of the Ethan Allen juvenile correctional institution.

ne ambientet e institucionit korrektues per te rinjte, Ethan Allen.

It took all day,

Zgjati gjithe diten,

and the prisoners had a great time.

dhe te burgosurit u zbaviten pa mase.

So what does this mean?

Pra, c'do te thote kjo?

I mean, the question I ask myself,

Dua te them, ajo cka e pyes veten,

why does this happen in nature?

eshte, a ndodh kjo ne natyre?

Well, what I concluded

Perfundimi qe kam arritur

from reviewing all these cases

nga rishikimi i te gjitha ketyre rasteve

is that it is important that this happens

eshte se eshte e rendesishme qe kjo te ndodhe

only when death is instant

vetem ne rast kur vdekja eshte e pernjehereshme

and in a dramatic way

dhe ne nje menyre dramatike

and in the right position for copulation.

dhe ne pozicionin e duhur per ciftezim.

At least, I thought it was till I got these slides.

Ose, keshtu mendova deri ne momentin qe mora keto faqe.

And here you see a dead duck.

Ketu shihni nje rose te ngordhur.

It's been there for three days,

ka tre dite qe qendron aty.

and it's laying on its back.

i shtrire ne kurriz.

So there goes my theory of necrophilia.

Ja pra ku del dhe teoria ime e nekrofilise.

Another example of the impact

Nje tjeter shembull i impaktit

of glass buildings on the life of birds.

te nderteses se xhamte ne jeten e zogjve.

This is Mad Max, a blackbird who lives in Rotterdam.

Ky eshte Mad Max, nje zog i zi qe jeton ne Roterdam.

The only thing this bird did was fly against this window

E vetmja gje qe beri ky zog eshte te perplasej me kete dritare

from 2004 to 2008, day in and day out.

nga 2004 ne 2008, cdo dite.

Here he goes, and here's a short video.

Ja si ndodh, dhe ja nje video e shkurter ilustrative.

(Music) (Clunk)

(Muzike)

(Clunk)

(Perplasje)

(Clunk)

(Perplasje)

(Clunk)

(Perplasje)

So what this bird does

Dhe ajo c'ka ben zogu

is fight his own image.

eshte te luftoj imazhin e tij.

He sees an intruder in his territory,

Ai sheh nje te huaj te padeshiruar ne territorin e tij,

and it's coming all the time and he's there,

i cili vjen sa here ai vete eshte aty,

so there is no end to it.

dhe qe nuk resht kurre.

And I thought, in the beginning -- I studied this bird for a couple of years --

Ne fillim--pasi e studiova kete zog per disa vite-- mendova

that, well, shouldn't the brain of this bird be damaged?

a nuk duhet te kish ndonje demtim ne tru ky zog?

It's not. I show you here some slides,

Po nuk eshte keshtu. Po ju tregoj disa faqe,

some frames from the video,

disa foto nga videot

and at the last moment before he hits the glass,

dhe ne momentin e fundit para se ai te godase xhamin,

he puts his feet in front,

ai vendos kembet perpara,

and then he bangs against the glass.

dhe me pas perplaset ne xham.

So I'll conclude to invite you all to Dead Duck Day.

Po e perfundoj fjalen time duke ju ftuar te gjitheve ne "Diten e rosave te Ngordhura".

That's on June 5 every year.

Kjo dite eshte data 5 qeshor e cdo viti.

At five minutes to six in the afternoon,

Ne oren gjashte pa pese,

we come together at the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam,

ne mblidhemi ne Muzeun e Historise Natyrale te Roterdamit,

the duck comes out of the museum,

rosa del nga muzeu,

and we try to discuss new ways

dhe ne perpiqemi te diskutojme rreth menyrave te reja

to prevent birds from colliding with windows.

per ti parandaluar zogjte te perplasen ne dritare.

And as you know, or as you may not know,

Dhe sikunder mund ta dini, ose mund te mos e dini,

this is one of the major causes of death

kjo eshte nje nga arsyet kryesore te vrasjes

for birds in the world.

te zogjve ne mbare boten.

In the U.S. alone, a billion birds die

Vetem ne U.S.A, nje miliard zogj ngordhin

in collision with glass buildings.

ne perplasje me xhamat e ndertesave.

And when it's over, we go to a Chinese restaurant

Kur te mbaroje kjo, shkojme te gjithe bashke ne nje restorant Kinez

and we have a six-course duck dinner.

dhe hame nje darke te bollshme me baze rose.

So I hope to see you

Shpresoj t'ju shoh

next year in Rotterdam, the Netherlands,

vitin qe vjen ne Roterdam, Hollande,

for Dead Duck Day.

ne Diten e Roses se Ngordhur

Thank you.

Faleminderit.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)

Oh, sorry.

Oh, me fal.

May I have my duck back, please?

A mund te ma ktheni rosen ju lutem?

(Laughter) (Applause)

(Te qeshura) (Duartrokitje)

Thank you.

Faleminderit.