Can YOU spot the duck? Internet goes crazy over animal hiding in plain sight – in video released by Oregon wildlife office
A new video made to bring awareness about local wildlife turned into a duck hunt.
The internet went crazy after the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife shot footage along a grassy area where a duck hid in plain sight but was camouflaged by the brown reeds.
The mallard duck was caught nesting in front of the agency’s building, and the team took the opportunity to urge onlookers to ‘leave wildlife alone so they can go about the work of making more wildlife.’
‘It may not feel like it, but it’s spring, and that means we’ll have a bunch of chicks, goslings and ducklings, among others, running around soon,’ the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife shared in a tweet.
The internet went crazy after the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife shot footage along a grassy area
Mallard ducks are known for adapting to urban surroundings, so wildlife officials hope the video urges humans not to disturb them during nesting season.
These are the most common of their kind and are widespread throughout Oregon.
Mallards are puddle or dabbling ducks and usually feed by dabbling or dipping rather than submerging.
And they migrate and reside in coastal and inland marshes, lakes and ponds, rivers and agricultural fields.
Ducks were domesticated in 4000 BC by Egyptians, Chinese and Europeans.
Ancient Egyptians believed the animal symbolized fertility, while others brought them into their homes to eat.
The duck in the video will not make it on a plate anytime soon but will eventually watch her eggs hatch into chicks.
‘You never know where you’ll find wildlife,’ the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife tweeted.
‘It may not feel like it, but it’s spring, and that means we’ll have a bunch of chicks, goslings and ducklings, among others, running around soon.
The mallard duck was seen nesting in front of the agency’s building, and the team took the opportunity to urge onlookers to ‘leave wildlife alone so they can go about the work of making more wildlife’
Almost all domestic duck breeds can be traced back to Mallards. Domestic ducks and Mallards are the same species, with some of the same genes.
Mallards can cross-breed with 63 other duck species and create fertile hybrid offspring.
However, this ability also dilutes the duck breed population and causes ‘genetic pollution’ that leads to wild, indigenous waterfowl extinction.
Mallards feast on seeds, acorns, berries, plants, insects, shellfish and fish eggs, which sometimes hatch after being defecated back into the wild.
A team of researchers from the Danube Research Institute made this discovery in 2020 by testing what would happen when carp eggs were force-fed to ducks in a laboratory.
The team fed 8,000 eggs from two different invasive species of carp to a group of eight mallard ducks, then examined the duck feces to see what would happen to the eggs after being eaten.
While most of the eggs were destroyed while passing through the ducks’ digestive system, 18 eggs made it through intact, according to a report in Science News.
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