Did you know ducks have this thing called a uropygial gland that gives them their magic powers? The oil that comes out of the gland, called “preening oil” serves three purposes:
- Waterproofing! It’s by spreading the preening oil over their body that ducks are able to swim in the water without messing up their feathers.
- GATHER ENERGY FROM THE SUN! Humans use sunlight to create vitamin D in our skin, but duck feathers are too thick for sunlight to reach their skin. So instead, the preening oil contains the molecules that would become vitamin D when exposed to the sun, and the sunlight that hits their feathers converts it. The duck will then nom the vitamin D during the next preening.
- Keeping themselves clean! The preening oil also acts kind of like a shampoo, and kills any parasites that might get on the duck.
So now you know! It’s important for baby ducklings to stick with their mothers because baby ducks are unable to apply preening oil on their own.
Squee! Spotter:dunno source via Daily Squee
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IS IT WHAT MAKES THEM SO CUTE???
::faints::
…
::preens::
Awsome oill, surely the scientist bods could find a use for that for us humans?
And, if the ducklings cant spread the oild themselves why don’t we see ducks preening the ducklings like you see cats licking their kittens, hmm?
Because you don’t have any ducks living in your house 24/7!
Oh yeah, that could be why, tee hee!
Apparently Mallards’ quacks don’t echo under bridges, either. Or anywhere else, presumably.
That’s actually an urban legend! http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/duckecho.asp
Am I the only one that sees the CRUDE OIL on this poor little duckeh? All the preening oil in the world can’t protect them from man’s destructive powers.