These Australian ducks learn to insult humans

Some species of animals, especially birds, are able to reproduce certain words spoken by humans. Some are even capable of insulting people.

Research now shows that musk ducks, a wild water bird native to Australia, are also able to imitate sounds.

Indeed, in a video published by the magazine New Scientist, one can hear one of these specimens pronounce “you crazy”, probably in reference to a former guard.

This research was published in the Philosophical Transactions journal of the Royal Society of London B, and showed that ducks can mimic the sounds of other birds and human sounds.

“Acquiring vocalizations by learning them from other individuals is only known in a limited number of animal groups,” Leiden University scientists write in this new work.

“Here, we provide evidence for vocal learning in a member of a basal avian phylogeny clade: the Australian musk duck (Biziura lobata) “.

The main duck in the recording is called Ripper and scientists are unsure how he would have learned to pronounce the phrase, although they believe it could have been something his keeper said and learned.

The record was set by Australian scientist Peter J. Fullanger in July 1987 when the bird was four years old. In the video, the duck could be heard vocalizing dozens of times over a matter of minutes and at intervals of four to five seconds.

Here’s a condensed version of that recording: