Do Ducks Have Beef With Humans

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These duck facts will help yous realize that ducks are smart, highly sociable creatures capable of mind-boggling feats of athleticism. They also produce some mighty tasty eggs coveted by gourmet chefs and poultry enthusiasts alike.

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Years ago, when nosotros decided to go egg-laying ducks, we had no thought how profoundly that conclusion would change our perception of brute intelligence and emotional capacity. After all, being told y'all have a "bird encephalon" isn't intended to be a compliment!

Since then, our flock of Welsh Harlequin ducks has been an ongoing source of entertainment and education (and occasionally a source of farthermost irritation when they break into ane of our strawberry patches or garden green beds).

"You accept no proof that I ate your strawberries." Pippa the Welsh Harlequin duck looking a bit guilty (just not atoning) after breaking into our strawberry patch.

ix Amazing duck facts

Fifty-fifty if yous don't have ducks, nosotros hope these nine duck facts will help you lot improve appreciate these amazing creatures!

i. Ducks tin close one eye and put half their brain to sleep.

Alligators, ospreys, bald eagles… there are a lot of critters out at that place that would like to make a meal of a duck.

One fashion ducks take adapted to go some good shut-center while still keeping a look out for potential danger is to shut one eye in order to put half their brain to sleep while keeping the other eye open up and the other half of their brain awake and alert.

Hmm, which side of my brain needs a nap?

When a flock of ducks are together, that means every duck can take half-brain naps and keep one center open looking for trouble. Interestingly, the researchers from Indiana State University who initially discovered this phenomenon, noted that half-napping ducks positioned on the outside of a group would keep their outside eye open and the eye facing towards the grouping of ducks airtight. Meanwhile, ducks in the center of the flock would go fully to sleep, closing both eyes. Synchronized sleeping!

Aye, our ducks practice the one-eye nap trick as well, fifty-fifty though their greatest threat is whether nosotros're going to bring them tomatoes or lettuce for a treat.

ii. Ducks can produce more eggs than chickens (and their eggs gustatory modality better and are more nutritious).

If yous know a really good chef or baker, ask them whether they prefer duck or chicken eggs. We'll bet you they'll say "duck eggs" ix out of 10 times.

Why? Ducks eggs aren't just larger than craven eggs, they as well taste ameliorate and creamier, primarily due to their larger yolk-to-white ratio. Chicken eggs also tend to have a more sulfury season than duck eggs.

One of our duck eggs (left) versus an organic gratuitous-range chicken egg (right). The average duck egg weighs at least 2.five ounces, the equivalent of a jumbo chicken egg.

Equally nosotros've written almost extensively here, some duck breeds can lay more eggs per year than the highest performing craven breed (52 lbs of eggs versus 34 lbs) and also accept much more nutritious eggs. Of grade, we advise all poultry caretakers to balance their animals' wellbeing against the needs for egg product.

Information technology takes a lot of energy to produce an egg – if you lot button your girls too hard, you'll end up with a greater frequency of sick and unhealthy ducks. Fauna health and happiness first, egg product second is the best philosophy for the poultry enthusiast!

iii. Ducks are causing scientists to rethink abstract intelligence.

Are ducks smart?

Abstract intelligence is divers every bit "the capacity to understand and manage abstract ideas and symbols." In humans, abstract intelligence is essential for such things as creative problem solving, sense of humour, and novel ideas and inventions.

Conventional scientific wisdom has held that abstract thinking was simply possible in a scattering of super-intelligent animals such equally apes, crows, and dolphins. It was also thought that abstruse intelligence required experiential learning and possibly teaching/instructing from an adult in combination with punishments/rewards.

Then along came a 2016 study where scientists performed a range of tests on ducklings…

Researchers found that every bit soon every bit ducklings hatch, they have a remarkable degree of abstruse intelligence. The written report's co-writer, Alex Kacelnik, of Oxford University'south zoology department, said: "To our knowledge, this is the first sit-in of a not-human organism learning to discriminate between abstract relational concepts without any reinforcement grooming."

In improver to possessing surprisingly high levels of abstract intelligence, ducklings might be the cutest creatures on the planet.

Next time somebody calls you a "bird brain," just answer with a thanks dishonest.

4. Ducks accept one of the longest penises in the beast kingdom.

Yes, we'll keep this department "safe for work."

In most bird species, males don't accept penises. That's not the case with ducks, all the same. In fact, drakes (male ducks) have extraordinarily long corkscrew-shaped penises.

Although the boilerplate length of a duck penis is about 8″, one species of ducks, the Argentine Lack Duck (Oxyura vittata), has a 17″ long penis, 1 of the longest in the animal kingdom.

Sir Winston Duckbill (in the back with orange legs), is our only drake. He'southward a lucky man.

If yous want to learn more about duck reproductive organs and their odd mating behaviors, read Agreement duck mating and courting.

5. Ducks perform insane aerial feats.

Similar a duck out of water? Sure, ducks might not be peachy at walking on land, but they're remarkably good flyers, particularly when migrating.

Their average flight speed is l mph (for reference, Usain Commodities can barely peak 23 mph), and some ducks can reach much greater speeds. A reddish-breasted merganser was recorded flying at 100 mph, which is virtually 40 mph faster than a cheetah, the globe's fastest land creature.

Our Welsh Harlequin ducks are flightless, but sometimes they seem to forget that.

Ducks are also capable of traveling enormous, non-stop distances at crazy altitudes. With a good tailwind, mallards can travel a distance of 800 miles in an eight 60 minutes flight (that's a altitude longer than the entire state of California). Aye, that sort of travel consumes quite a bit of energy, which is why they'll rest and feed for up to a week between flights.

How high can a duck wing? Usually, they stay in an altitude range betwixt 200-4,000 feet, but the record is 21,000 feet. Unfortunately, the current record holder was struck past a jet airplane!

half dozen. Ducks can live longer than dogs.

Desi the Duck, a female person mallard duck who lived in the Uk, was xx years former when she died, making her the globe's oldest duck ever.

Outliving a true cat might exist a bigger challenge… Jackson the duck (correct) is determined to outlive our cat (left). Both are about a decade former in this pic.

A duck's average lifespan in the wild is between 5-10 years, but a domesticated business firm or backyard duck who is well taken care of can easily alive into their teens. Duck hens tin proceed to produce eggs for up to 10 years as well, although their egg production volition significantly taper off by that historic period.

(Have a deeper dive into ducks' lifespan and how to have the longest-lived domesticated ducks possible.)

seven. Ducks can see 360 degrees around them, 3x better than humans, and in 4-D color.

Ducks' eyes are nothing brusk of amazing…

Their visual field is 2x larger than humans and they can see afar objects ii.5-3x more clearly than us. Oh, they likewise have three eyelids and four-dimensional colour vision.

Curious to learn more virtually how ducks run into the world? Make sure to read 9 amazing duck eyesight facts in one case y'all're washed with this article!

8. Ducks' anxiety are well-nigh impossible to freeze.

Have you ever wondered why ducks (or other waterfowl) sometimes stand on one foot? Information technology's the same answer to the question: "How do ducks continue their feet from freezing or making the rest of their bodies too cold?"

After all, you (human being) couldn't stand outside barefoot on a freezing day, even if you had on a heavy jacket.

Answer: "rete mirabile" a biological science term that means "wonderful net" in Latin. Ducks have a specialized arterial network in their legs that:

• utilizes the warm blood flowing from their middle to heat the cold blood circulating back up from their legs (the returning blood has already been warmed by the time information technology reaches their heart), and
• allows their feet to stay much colder than their core torso temperature without cooling the rest of their body/blood.

By continuing on one leg while they residue, ducks cut heat loss through their legs past ~fifty%, which ways less free energy expenditure. Every calorie an brute expends is a calorie it has to consume, so these adaptations and behaviors are seriously advantageous in the wild.

9. Ducks in flight are similar a flying feathered bagpipe because of their astonishing respiratory system.

Ever wonder how a duck tin can go from sea level to the altitude of Mountain Kilimanjaro in a short menstruum of time without a trouble (this would cause hypoxia in humans)? Or quack in mid-flying? Or fly 800 miles in a day? Or wing at all?

The central ingredient that makes this magic possible is their extraordinarily complex respiratory system, which works completely differently than mammal or insect respiration. Check out this brilliant visualization from TableTopWhale to run across it in action:

Bird respiratory system compared to humans and insects. Visualization via TableTopWhale.

A bird'south lungs are simply almost half the size of a mammal's lungs, proportionally. They likewise don't change in size, or inflate and deflate, like our lungs do while breathing. Air is drawn through their lungs uni-directionally via a series of air sacs, some of which extend into their bones.

Man lungs are inflated and deflated by our diaphragm. However, birds don't have diaphragms. Instead, their air sacs are ultimately controlled past their muscles – that ways the more they move, the more air comes into their air sacs. When they are taking off for flight or flying, they're essentially filling themselves up like a airship. This allows for greater oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange, but it also makes them much lighter relative to their body size than they are when they're not flying. Pretty cool!

A recent road trip with Svetlana the Duck (she prefers to travel in triangle formation).

Ducks in flight are like feathered bagpipes – their specialized air sacs and vocal organs allow them to quack whether they're inhaling or exhaling. (Effort inhaling and singing at the same time to see how astonishing this is.)

If yous want to geek out on duck/bird respiration, hither's an interesting article from Academy of Illinois.

We hope these amazing duck facts will aid you better capeesh ducks and other wildlife around you! It's an amazing earth out at that place.

KIGI,

Fly on over to these other duck articles:

• Duck eggs vs chicken eggs: how do they compare?
• Do ducks accept teeth? Take a trip within a duck's mouth and digestive organization
• What should y'all feed to wild ducks?
• Agreement duck mating and courting
• How to hatch duck eggs

and more duck articles from Tyrant Farms.

Like what you're seeing hither? Please be sure to subscribe to Tyrant Farms so we tin let you know most new articles you'll love.

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