Just in case you have, as a child, heard the myth that ducks' quack does not produce an echo, and have never outgrew the myth (possibly by never even thinking about it ever since), a potential IgNobel winner for next year has been published and, yes, ducks' quacks produce echoes. Shelley has the details of the experiments and the link to the sound-file of the quack and the echo. Ah, the power of the scientific method! Though alternative methods have been proposed:
Now, the question remains: which echo-chamber does the duck prefer: its Left Wing or its Right Wing?
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Hard on the heels of my semi-facetious prediction that bird flu would return to Germany because Germany had declared itself bird flu free,
The natural home for influenza viruses is aquatic waterfowl, including ducks and geese (anseriformes). So I've read a fair amount about swabbing the claocae (rectums) of these animals as part of avian influenza surveillance.
Reposted from the old TfK.
The Sharks and the Jets are fighting over by the compost pile. Well, ok, maybe not quite, but it has that feel to it. You see, we have two street-gangs of ducks. The first ones, Pekins and one ratty looking Rouen who is shooting for the "oldest living duck record" have been around for a bit.
Oh yeah, I saw that myth on Mythbusters. If Im remembering it right, the reason it was so hard to hear the echo was because it sounded the same as the quack itself.
The episode that brought us the immortal Jamie quote "quack, damn you."