Duck Facts

Quacking good facts about ducks — surprisingly weird birds hiding in plain sight.

Ducks belong to the family Anatidae, one of the oldest bird families with a fossil record stretching back approximately 56 million years. The approximately 120 living duck species are distributed across every continent except Antarctica, occupying habitats from Arctic tundra to tropical wetlands. Duck biology contains several verified surprises that contradict popular assumptions: not all ducks quack (the distinctive quack belongs to the female mallard; males produce a raspy sound), and duck feathers are so densely waterproofed by preen oil that they can dive repeatedly without their down becoming saturated. The hydrodynamic properties of duck feathers have inspired research into waterproofing materials for industrial applications.

Duck eggs have a thicker shell and larger yolk than chicken eggs, making them prized by bakers for producing denser, richer cakes and pastries. Ducks have a specialised lamellate bill — a row of comb-like projections along the edges — that functions as a filter to strain food from water, operating similarly to the baleen plates of large whales but on a microscopic scale.

Mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) are the ancestor of almost all domestic duck breeds worldwide, domesticated in China roughly 2,000 years ago and independently in Mexico by pre-Columbian peoples.