10 Horrifying Facts About Ducks You Might Not Know

Donald Duck is the most loved character even if he doesn’t put on pants! Many of us grew up watching ducks and hearing their lovely quacking sounds. With those silly and cute paddles, the ducks are often considered as adorable and entertaining birds.

The ducks are usually noticed hanging out in lakes, rivers and even chirping on land. Well, the ducks are not as adorable as they look and even don’t look harmless at first glance but they do have some bizarre traits and strange body parts that you might not have noticed in other animals.

So read some horrifying facts about ducks here.

1. Duck Penises

The first most horrifying fact about duck is related to their penises.  The duck penises are shaped like corkscrews. Well, majority of the animals (98%) of bird species don’t even have a penis. The duck penis is stored in sacs. When a duck penis erects, it can extend up to 8 inches long.  To make it more horrifying, the penises of ducks are full of backward-pointing spikes and are specially shaped to stab into female ducks cruelly.

2. They Can Be Murderous

You are probably wrong if you think that only humans can do murder because of jealousy or any of circumstances. Even ducks are murderers and they have been noticed murdering their mates. The mating season is the most important time for ducks, especially for female ducks. While mating ducks drown one another. In this mating procedure, most female ducks lose their feathers and some even lose eyes.

3. Their Hard Life Makes Survival Harder

Unfortunately, the duck's survival rate is awful. According to the studies, only 60% of ducks grow fully and reach the maturity stage. There are various things which directly affect the duck's survival. For instance, bad weather, hail and habitat are major factors which impact a duck’s life span. The baby ducks are helpless until they reach the age of 70 days (maturity age) and can never escape from the evil eyes that live near them.

4. They Have Better Vision Than Dogs

This is the lesser known and another horrifying fact about ducks. They have better vision than dogs. They can see full color and because they have eyes on their heads, they can have nearly 360 degree views of the world around them. Though ducks cannot see properly at night, their eye contains cones that we humans do not have. Besides this, ducks have a third eyelid. This might not have surprised you as all birds have 3 eyelids.

5. Ducks Are Always Vigilant

Duck always stay alert! You can surprise this creature as duck is always watching and it becomes hard for predators to catch up on the adult duck. Only the hunters can tell you how to remain still when you want to shoot the duck.

Another lesser known fact about duck is very relatable to their sleeping position. Ducks always sleep in group and that too in a single line. The duck which sleeps in the end keeps one eye open to keep a check on the predators.

6. Male Duck & Female Duck Can Be Differentiated By Looking At Their Tail Feathers

While you can easily differentiate many ducks by their color, some even have same color irrespective of sex. The most common method to identify male from female ducks is by looking at their tail feathers. The male ducks usually have curly tail feathers while female ducks have straight and thick feathers.

7. Duck’s Poop Carries Dangerous Diseases

Poop is never an adorable thing. Ducks poop everywhere and too much poop can cause health problems to humans and other species as well. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that duck poop carries diseases that are very dangerous for humans. It can spread diseases like Salmonella and E.Coli. It was also reported that nearly 900 duck owners get in contact with Salmonella every year.

Histoplasmosis is another disease spread by fungus and grows over dried duck droppings. So make sure next time you visit any zoo or any other place where ducks are present, stay away from their poop.

8. Ducks Swallow Rocks and Pebbles

It is quite common to know that ducks consume grasses and small insects. But do you know that ducks also swallow rocks and pebbles? Yes, you read it right. They do so to grind up the bones of fish they ate. Ducks make their own pair of teeth which is known as gastrolith.  Once the rocks they swallowed are not sharp anymore, the ducks vomit them back and hunt again for new rocks.

9. A Duck’s Unfeeling Foot

Ducks are like terminator birds. They possess a specific anatomy to tolerate freezing temperatures and watery lifestyle. Ducks are often characterized by their webbed feet, but do you know that these creatures can restrict blood flow to their feet? And how do they manage to swim in freeze water with ease? As the temperature goes down, less blood flows to the duck’s extremities and this helps duck with swimming in chill water and stand comfortably on ice. Their feet also change color during the mating season.

10. Egg Laying is Purely Affected by Daylight

The egg laying process is another interesting fact about the ducks. Both chickens and ducks slow down their egg production when there is less light. The day and night light affect their hormones. This is the reason why duck breeds don’t lay many eggs during the winter season. Both farmers and duck keepers are advised to use artificial light in the duck house in order to enhance egg production.