How Do Ducks Stay Dry?

You might be familiar with the phrase "like water off a ducks back". But it's not that ducks don't get wet, it's that they get wet, with style.
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Sources:
www.eurekalert.org/news-relea...
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsa...
www.tsfx.edu.au/resources/466...
news.mit.edu/2014/how-cormora...
naturevictoria.com/articles/bu...
IMAGES
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vtx.vt.edu/articles/2021/05/e...

[@SciShow]

SciShow is supported by Brilliant.org. Go to Brilliant.org/SciShow to get 20% off of an annual Premium subscription.

[@squanchmastersquanch4376]

This is must be a sign. I live around a duck park. I just saw ducks mate forcefully. This made me think about the cloaca. The opening where they excrete and have sex. I understand that ducks (and some mammals) have them. My question, "If they have one cloaca for excrement and sex, how does that work? Wouldnt the duck (male) get some infection around its penis? It pees and poops in the same place. Is it cause the cloaca inside have several openings to release, pee, poop, and the penis? And yes I realize that ducks are one of few birds to have penises. Others just release sperm." Can I please have this answered, and same goes for the mammals? Do they have special openings for their cloaca?

[@culi7068]

In the video, you said the study looked at three different species of duck when in fact they actually only used three different breeds of not just the same species of duck, but the same subspecies (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus)

[@RustyTube]

How is this surprising? _Everything_ ducks do, they do with style. And with a smile.

[@miskatonicalumni5612]

There are some dapper ganders out there.

[@ChrispyNut]

I gather ducklings are excluded, cos I've seen some trying to escape swimming pools and they had as much style as ... well ... me (super clumsy doofus).

[@RustyTube]

@@ChrispyNut They’ll grow into it. :)

[@ChrispyNut]

@@RustyTube Parent duck was pretty patient in the most recent one.... until the last, most clumsy one. The pool owner cared more than the parent.

[@debas3d]

Especially their penises

[@fennecfoxfanatic]

Now this is what I call Quack Science!

[@squanchmastersquanch4376]

I see what you did there. 🦆

[@TheBlueB0mber]

get the flock out of here 🦆🦆🦆🦢

[@nicholashylton6857]

LOL I want to roll my eyes but I have to admit that's funny! 🤣

[@fennecfoxfanatic]

@@TheBlueB0mber watch the fowl language!

[@squanchmastersquanch4376]

@@fennecfoxfanatic Awww. He said it. I love me a good pun. LOL.

[@1.4142]

Another thing about the structure of feathers: Fused to the central shaft (rachis) are a series of branches, or barbs; the barbs themselves are also branched and form the barbules. These barbules have minute hooks called barbicels for cross-attachment.

[@mamanoneyall51]

It's amazing you know that

[@mehere8038]

Without watching I'm guessing the answer is that they cover themselves in Duck Tape right?

[@kensmith5694]

I watched it and it reminded me of something told to me by a wise old sea captain. "Give a man a duck and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to duck and he won't get knocked overboard by the sail when the wind changes.

[@smssalina]

Your quacking me up.

[@mehere8038]

@@kensmith5694 boom

[@mehere8038]

& I think my "boom" comment went over everyone's head (pun intended). It's the boom, not the sail that knocks people overboard if they don't duck, but also boom, on a great joke from Ken Smith, I loved it :)

[@smssalina]

@@mehere8038 ill put that down in my log book.

[@therongjr]

I first thought Hank was saying that researchers stacked DUCKS on top of each other inside a pressure chamber! I was horrified!

[@playlistenthusiast]

You've heard of barrel of monkeys. Now get ready for the sequel, pressure chamber full of ducks.

[@fannyalbi9040]

because u missed out the important word “feathers”, which the style come in

[@Keallei]

You are not alone. I heard this, too.

[@thinktoomuchb4028]

Fortunately, I keep my feathers numbered for... for just such an emergency.

[@rivercrow8988]

😂😂😂

[@mamanoneyall51]

😆🤣👍

[@vangu2918]

Beat me to it.👍

[@Bigbuddyandblue]

Now that, I say, that is a funny comment. Are you listening to me son? That’s a joke, son, I say, a joke,

[@shanerooney7288]

*SciShow:* How do ducks stay dry. *Me:* Magic. *SciShow:* How do ducks make babies? *Me:* We don't talk about that.

[@klove828]

Jinx Monsoon taught me the phrase, “Water off a ducks back.”

[@Her_Viscera]

"Oh I'm just repeating the phrase water off a ducks back to myself"

[@tylerolsen4417]

Whats amazing is how thick the plumage is under the festher used to keep them warm

[@fsmoura]

Well, as the saying goes, "dry as a duck." Or maybe it was "healthy as a horse." Something like that.

[@truetech4158]

Trumpstein duck and ran into politics and moreless told people that pandemics and violence produces happy happy afterlives in the sky.

[@ChrispyNut]

Crispy as a duck, innit? :\

[@shanerooney7288]

As hung as a duck. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@truetech4158]

@@ArawnOfAnnwn Teflon Don, is when you pay millions in hush money to your ex wife who took you to court and read a sexual assault victim impact statement, so that you can purchase a get out of jail card in NY state, and after that you run for office, and then a deadly pandemic happens as your voters display skitzo affective afterlife expectations disorder yelling freedom like poorly educated sociopaths.

[@thefeatheredfrontiersman8135]

I remember in first grade 21 years ago. My teacher pulled out a goose feather and explained what hydrophobic meant. She said it was the oils that made it roll off. I've always wandered... Now I know!

[@VulpesNoctis]

That is wickedly cool - which is precisely why ducks are used to determine whether someone is a witch or not

[@duckss83]

I love ducks, physics and this video a lot

[@AvenEngineer]

Can you do 'tighter than a ducks arse' next? Apparently. it's the only thing that keeps'em from sinking, or so I've been told, at the pub, by a drunk Welshmen. He seemed a credible authority on the subject at the time. After this video, I'm starting to think he may have been having a laugh.

[@diegomarteen]

once you've seen the dog in the duck's beak, you can not unsee it EVER

[@FlesHBoX]

if someone doesn't create a product for boats called "antifowl" it's a supreme lost opportunity.

[@kensmith5694]

Or claim it was invented by their aunt. "Aunty Fowl" sounds right.

[@Joker45678]

They do have bottom paint called that.

[@netaimonadal7927]

*Ahh yes* Just what i needed to become a duck

[@bazza945]

They have a well fitting bung.

[@Prelude610]

The other thing I find weird about ducks is how bouyant they are.

[@AwkwardKidAdventures]

This is one of the things we had to do with ducks and geese at the Virginia Wildlife Center. We had a big tub that we'd fill with water, stick the duck/ducklings in, cover it with something opaque and let them swim around. It was very cute!

[@TheAnimalzz]

Just another reason to love ducks.

[@enquiryplay]

They always bring a towel.

[@Tuxedoz]

Ducks, refrigerators, water towers, oh my!

[@themtouchinmykokoro2869]

“Get wet with style” gonna remember that one

[@chanoname4940]

alright time to get my multiple layered duck feather jacket

[@NoxSicarius1]

Drop us an episode about interesting ways to make an electric charge, like pizoelectric crystals or maybe how a pizoelectric crystal works

[@bazza945]

They'll duck that one.

[@ricardoalexisnolazcocontre9110]

00:09 Jinkx Monsoon's signature phrase 🤠

[@hrsdarwish306]

Yaasss!!!

[@jaredpatterson1701]

A marvel of design

[@wolfthorn1]

Duck duck goose. Smell my caboose.

[@rebelusa6585]

How ducks stay dry, darkwing duck will enter the chat.

[@robertcampomizzi7988]

That's one dapper duck!

[@kensmith5694]

Ducks tend to be good looking birds. Their feathers have a shine to them.

[@DDRWakaLaka]

duck towels, obviously

[@therongjr]

"They get wet with style" 🤭 This video should be on Sci-Show: After Dark.

[@injunsun]

HANK, I love your shirt.

[@pamelamays4186]

Get wet with style. Cool explanation Hank!

[@N.G.B_SK8143]

I peep that HVAC plug🤣🤣

[@ryanackley5242]

Stockton Rush: I am going to make a sub out of duck feathers!!

[@totalfreedom45]

At what time does a duck wake up? At the quack of dawn. 🦆 🦆 🦆

[@LordBlackNephew]

What da Duck? BX STAND UP!!!

[@angelapotter8084]

Y'all should bring sci show quiz show back.

[@TiagoNomad]

That was ducking awesome.

[@jonatanromanowski9519]

Go Go Sci Show

[@mr.johnson3844]

It took us thousands of years to figure out that ducks had multiple layers of feathers?

[@LuisAldamiz]

Galileo: let's study birds to learn how to fly Some modern researchers: lets study birds to learn how to stay dry in water

[@LuisAldamiz]

PS - It was actually Ibn Farhan but Galileo got all the fame, whatever.

[@grandmasterapple6355]

Ducks obviously have an anti water forcefield

[@rocksandoil2241]

You quack me up

[@LKDesign]

Great, now I want Lasagne.

[@Foolish188]

Now explain how the US Navy took a blurry video of an object flying at the height ducks fly, the size of a duck, flying at the speed ducks fly, with the heat signature of a duck, must be an Alien UFO.

[@gigglysamentz2021]

What a huge paper omg!

[@RandyJames22]

2:22 Duckedness. Ah -- Words!

[@Shaden0040]

I bet this goes for penguines who have the most number of feather per square inch on their bodies.

[@gumelini1]

I know guys who were staying dry up to their 40's.😂

[@lenzzzzzzz]

I swear you guys have done this episode before!

[@almostliterally593]

Ducks aren’t mundane... they Are living theropod dinosaurs

[@janiehill4256]

I want to know why ducks legs and feet don’t freeze when they are paddling around in a nearly frozen pond.

[@animefreak5757]

they let just enough blood flow through to keep them from literally freezing, but not much more. From what i recall their legs do get pretty chilly though.

[@BigRalphSmith]

Cold weather water foul have evolved a circulatory system in their legs and feet that act like liquid-to-liquid heat exchangers. The arteries and veins in their legs and feet are closely intertwined so the venous blood stays warmer by absorbing some of the heat from the warm blood coming from the heart. This system is hardcore in penguins.

[@SimuLord]

Did you hear the one about the hunters who overhunted a marsh of all its ducks? They fowled out.

[@Sparkyminor]

Engagement engagement engagement

[@qwertyman1511]

But what is the image with the duck with the spread open wings? My father wants it as his background.

[@5urg3x]

Barnacles!

[@IamTheWaveFunction]

What does a duck smoke? Quack

[@ncrdisabled]

i have 4 ducks they make great pets

[@mugmushrooms9845]

Just say no to water. Water can't wet you without your consent.

[@HotelPapa100]

Now someone tell the cormorants...

[@twocvbloke]

Thank goodness they weren't doing other reasearch that coincided with the british phrase for something that is difficult to pass through, "Tight as a duck's arse"... :P

[@levi12howell]

We took rough wooden boats and improved them making them as smooth and aerodynamic. Now we’ve realized that these smooth aerodynamic things can be made better and more aerodynamic by adding a certain kind of roughness to them. It’s just mind-blowing to me

[@BigRalphSmith]

Perhaps you mean "hydrodynamic"?

[@levi12howell]

lol I knew aerodynamic wasn’t the right word, but that it would work to convey my thought. So decided someone will be along to tell me the right word for it. Hydrodynamic would have been my guess, like hydroelectric, but thought it’d look worse if it wasn’t

[@Dirk_Mcgurk]

duck duck goose

[@thephilippexperience4074]

Yes please, how do ducks stay dry?

[@pablobratcat]

I love ducks

[@marxtheenigma873]

Duck related question. I know ducks do this dabbling behavior to filter out food from water, but many times I've seen them do this on land, their dabbling beaks held right above the ground. Does anyone know why???

[@joanneoliver8610]

Good question.

[@fatematujjahura4380]

Nice

[@skadoodskadad316]

Neat

[@hrsdarwish306]

"Water off a duck's back"

[@peregrine1970]

Wait..... Ducks are like Ogres? Layers!

[@josephcoatofmanycolors]

What do you call a rude duck? A duck with a quackitude.

[@shanerooney7288]

"Lunch"

[@misterflibble6601]

I'd call it fowl mouthed

[@JasonFoks]

"Wholly DUCK thats so cool hahahah"

[@misterflibble6601]

What's a holly duck?

[@loganm2766]

Salty army REEEEEEE

[@swaxtube]

They duck the water

[@brendakrieger7000]

Cool🦆

[@BigMobe]

Now we just need to know where afro duck goes to get his shape up.

[@lucretius8050]

So it is like the face masks keeping out droplets.

[@FupaDoncic]

So you could say they got that drip?

[@homerbartshow3101]

Ducks love bread

[@playlistenthusiast]

But it's like junk food for them. Better not to give them bread unless you know how much they're getting throughout the day.

[@Felipeh999]

What also floats in water?

[@pandit-jee-bihar]

These surprising details about ducks makes me doubt the theory of evolution. Nature has many mysteries to keep the human beings feel surprised and small.

[@BigRalphSmith]

Explain why the physical properties of duck feathers make you doubt evolution.

[@pandit-jee-bihar]

@@BigRalphSmith The details of how their feathers are designed makes me wonder that species are evolving because of changing circumstances and need. Such design is only possible when it's designed intently and not randomly. This is something so sophisticated and beautiful that it could not have happened randomly due to evolution.

[@BigRalphSmith]

@@pandit-jee-bihar Okay, do you understand which type of fallacious thinking you are engaged in? Can you tell me (in a nut shell) how evolution works?

[@antongrahn1499]

@@pandit-jee-bihar Its not random change. Specific traits are as part of natural variation, but which ones stick around over time is not random. Natural selection takes care of that.

[@pandit-jee-bihar]

@@antongrahn1499 There are mathematical challenge as well to the theory of evolution apart from the fact that it fails to explain the bigger things and appearance of new species. It does explain the small variations in feature of the same species found in different geographical locations which you are calling natural selection but mathematically the kind of possibilities that you have at a molecular level makes it impossible to predict appearance of a new species, so much so that it's almost random.

[@melethalewis9315]

Ducks were adapted to water because they have a kind of oil that helps them to stay dry.😍😍

[@bazza945]

Droil?

[@melethalewis9315]

That's not a real word to me when you spell the alphabet.🤔☹️

[@edwinhuang9244]

Quack

[@dschonsie]

pampers

[@darthfader733]

It's because a duck weights more than as a witch.

[@kensmith5694]

Technically a duck weighs the same as the witch in question.

[@dkexpat2755]

Sometimes I wonder who pay for experiments like these :D So what do you do man? I test duck feathers !

[@rockspectacle]

Jinx monsoon brought me here

[@euniversitybangladesh710]

Quack Science

[@michellehanson984]

They wear quackintoshes

[@BayBerry1337]

Quack :D

[@bensoncheung2801]

Duck-o

[@1TakoyakiStore]

I can tell you that this doesn't happen with anhinga's as they are on shore drying off their feathers all the time.

[@UltimatePerfection]

They are just good at ducking from water.

[@cristianchelaru8053]

That’s what she said

[@Scribe13013]

I contend that they don't exactly stay dry, but rather that they get wet with style

[@bradleynoneofyourbizz5341]

They attend AA meetings?