Original photo by Andi Edwards/ iStock
You probably know the old saying, “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it just may be a duck.” But there’s a slight wrinkle in that logic, because not all ducks quack the same.
Research has shown that ducks from different areas can develop regional “accents,” not unlike humans, that can be heard in their quacks. Professor Victoria de Rijke of London’s Middlesex University found that London ducks have a louder and rougher quack, described as sounding like a shout or a laugh, compared to the softer, more relaxed sounds of countryside quackers in Cornwall, England. Ducks are extremely adaptable creatures, and it's believed the city ducks made adjustments to compete with urban noise.
Hunters and call makers (people who craft animal calls for hunting) have also picked up on these regional differences, honing in on distinct styles to match local duck flocks. From the loud, high-pitched calls made by the ducks of Tennessee's beloved Reelfoot Lake to the subtle, more infrequent quacks of Louisiana waterfowl, each style reflects years of close listening to ducks whose sounds have been shaped by their habitats.
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Ducks, geese, and swans are part of the same biological family called ______.
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Ducks, geese, and swans are part of the same biological family called Anatidae.
The 1980s movie Howard the Duck led to the creation of Pixar.
In 1986, an early Marvel movie called Howard the Duck was released in theaters. The film was a notorious flop, widely panned for its overall off-key strangeness — but it helped lay the groundwork for a major Hollywood success story.
The movie’s executive producer, Star Wars creator George Lucas, tapped his company’s computer graphics team to help with the film’s post-production. Soon afterward, partially due to Howard the Duck’s failure, Lucas attempted to recoup some financial losses by selling that graphics division to Steve Jobs, who had recently left Apple computers (though he returned in 1997).
That division became Pixar, and in 1995, the company succeeded in making Toy Story, the first fully computer-animated feature film. Pixar would go on to redefine computer animation in the film industry.
Nicole is a writer, thrift store lover, and group-chat meme spammer based in Ontario, Canada.
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