What The Duck?!

Can plants get cancer? Do they get tumours? WAIT.. is that what those big knobbly bits are on trees? Dr Ann Jones pulls on her experience as a broadcaster with a brain, to find out what's going on with plants and cancer.  Won't someone think of the eucalypt! Featuring: Associate Professor Andrew Geering, University of Queensland. Professor John Rathjen, Australian National University. Dr Amy MacKe...

Two million years ago, our ancestors had tiny ape-like butts. Then something strange happened.. our butts grew bigger. Butt, why? It turns out humans aren’t the only primates whose butt took a bizarre evolutionary turn. These peaches have a lot to answer for. Featuring: Professor Daniel Lieberman, Harvard University, US. Professor Jo Setchell, Durham University, UK.  Dr Peter Bishop, Harvard Unive...

A superhero origin story would absolutely be 12 years in a cage and then set free by secretive criminals. That’s the story of Flaco, the Eurasian Eagle Owl, released from his vandalised cage in Central Park Zoo, New York City.  But how long could Flaco possibly last in the graveyard of bird diversity that is the city? How long could he fly without confusing a window for the sky? Featuring: Ed Shan...

Mum says it’s ok to be angry. But it’s not ok to take over a whole island state. Featuring:  Andrew Barron - Comparative Neuroscientist from Macquarie University, NSW Tim Low - Biologist and a founder of the Invasive Species Council Production: Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer Sarah Prosser, Producer Harvey O'Sullivan, Mastering Engineer This episode of What the Duck was produced on the land of the...

How will we survive the cosmic void? Scientists have a superfood diet in mind, but will the smallest flowering plant on Earth REALLY save humanity?  Featuring: Jenny Mortimer - Professor of Plant Synthetic Biology in the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine at Adelaide University. Chief investigator in the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space Gareth Prosser – Profes...

Why is it that bird names seem so… childishly misogynistic?  Featuring:  Professor Andrew Cockburn, bird watcher and word batcher, ANU Jeannie Gray, Author, Australian Bird Names: Origins and Meanings. Ian Fraser, Author, Australia Bird Names:  Origins and Meanings. Stephen Downes, the brains behind @Parrotoftheday social media accounts Stephen Moss, Author, Mrs Moreau's Warbler: How Birds Got The...

Someone get a translator app because the fish are ready to speak.  FEATURING:  Lauren Hawkins - Centre for Marine Science and Technology at Curtin University. Dr Aaron Rice - Research Scientist at Cornell University.  FEATURED SOUNDS : Thanks to Aaron and Lauren for providing sounds as well as Professor Robert McCauley and the Centre for Marine Science and Technology at Curtin University.  PRODUCT...

Grabbing a lift can go from bad to worse when your uber drops you outside your evolutionary niche.  FEATURING: Dr Matt Greenlees - Sydney University. Arthur White - NSW frog and tadpole study group. David Chapple - Monash University. Dr Maggie Watson - Charles Sturt University. Dr Robert Streit - Reef Function Hub at James Cook University. Voice of the Internet: Nikolai Beilharz.  PRODUCTION:  Ann...

Does Australia have a BEST wildflower? Hang on... what even is a flower? Dr Ann Jones and Belinda Smith count down the top 10 best wildflowers as voted by YOU in a special live show, The Hour of Flower.   FEATURING:  Tim Entwisle – Author, The Sceptical Botanist. Former CEO of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne Chantelle Doyle - Research Associate, Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biolo...

Quackery and Catfishing. Fake news doesn’t only happen on the human internet. Welcome to nature’s dark web. We didn’t TRY to make a spooky and disturbing episode... we just wanted to talk about plants with DUCK in the title. But oh boy, these flowers are savage!  One of them has become internet famous for a detox that could literally kill you. Another catfishes its pollinators by pretending to be...

WTF NATURE. I give up. ||A Message from Dr Ann - the What the Duck?! host and general dork.|| I don't really give up. The recording I took for the latest season of Nature Sounds by Ann Jones was a ripper (in terms of wombat farts). This bit  got edited out of the longer soundscape over there, because, it was determined, that a wombat walking in and scratching its butt ON THE MICROPHONES in the mid...

In fact, most dinosaurs never got the chance to stop and smell a flower... and it was all because of bad timing. Sad face. The meteor that killed all the dinosaurs (rude) actually kicked off flower supremacy on planet earth.  Flowering plants are only about 135 million years old, yet they’re the most bio-diverse plants on the planet. Without them, no birds, no bees. Again, sad face.  So where did...

It was a perfect night. But this duck had other ideas. The scene: A perfect, wonderful, windless night at a wetland. You couldn't ask for better conditions. The sun sets and the insects hum and eventually you hear a boobook and it's lovely… except one very loud duck keeps on yelling periodically the whole way through. It's like the thing KNEW I was recording. It goes on for hours. Anyway, I've got...

This flower takes needy to a whole new level!  It was almost extinct. That was, until 2015, when a woman called Julie took it upon herself to make sure we didn’t lose the species altogether, and as it happened (baby) Ann Jones went along with a microphone.  Now, it’s 10 years on, and Ann is older, greyer and more closely resembles a bearded orchid. But, given she hasn’t been made redundant yet, we...

You probably have a daddy-long-legs in your house right now. But when is having a weird housemate in the corner ACTUALLY a good thing? Dr Ann Jones investigates. Featuring: Dr Samantha Nixon, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr Lizzy Lowe, Invertebrates Australia. Thanks also to Dr Bernhard Huber, Arachnid Curator at Museum Koenig for helping us get the facts right. Production: Ann...

Flies have rhythm and choreography, could their moves make the next TikTok dance fad? Dune flies groove to their own beat in dance-circles and hoverflies use rhythmic movements in mating. Researchers found the dancing dune fly’s repertoire has specific moves for impressing a female and others for rival dance battles.  Pretty fly for a dune fly. In Costa Rica the male red hoverfly rhythmically sque...

Live from the World Science Festival Brisbane What the Duck?! is playing a game and you get to decide: duck, marry, avoid, or friendzone. You'll hear about the natural world's romance, reproduction, and relationships Once you've listened you can email whattheduck@abc.net.au to vote for how you would categorise snakes, birds, insects and mammals. Featuring: Dr Chstina Zdanek, Australian Reptile Aca...

It seems absolutely bonkers that an animal can muster ELECTRICITY, especially enough to send out a zap like a taser. But that's exactly what electric eels can do, and the world record holder more than doubles the voltage of the Australian electricity supply. More than that, electric eels inspired the design of Volta's first batteries, but (hold onto your socks so they don't get blown off) they're...

For around 700 years scientists observed same-sex pairings in as many as 1500 different species, but didn't record or publish their findings due to public perceptions. Now research is catching up and many papers on queer behaviour in nature have been published in the past two decades. This discussion was recorded live at Mardi Gras 2026 and presented by the Royal Zoological Society of NSW for Wild...

Sex comes at a cost, there's energy, time, risks of predators, and diseases… so do we even need it? Asexual organisms don't seem to miss the dating scene, and yet here we are putting a whole lot of energy into sex, even when it doesn't lead to babies when same sexes attract. Of course, sex is a chance to genetically repair faults and outrun threats, but is the pay-off really enough? Sex is Weird i...

It turns out not everyone was listening when it was written 'it takes two to tango' and some species can go it alone in their quest to reproduce. And then there's the plants that decided THREE or ONE was for them, never an even number. Why is sex so… suspiciously complicated? Sex is Weird is a series of What the Duck?! with Dr Ann Jones following the sexual evolution of the natural world. Please n...

What is the role of pleasure in successful reproduction? Evolution says it's mightily important: every female vertebrate has a clitoris. Snakes have two! Female pleasure has been selected for. Making sex fun and pleasurable is a biologically sensible thing to do, more sex means more potential babies. Some studies of pigs and dairy cows have found an increase of up to 6% in successful conception wh...

Do animals fall in love at first sight? Every species has different traits that are 'attractive' — they're showing off their DIY skills making a bower, vibrating sexy fruit fly songs, puffing up a wattle, or just having really massive moose… antlers. Is this innate attraction like falling in love or is it more like meeting a (really hot) investment advisor? Because these attractive traits are also...

The energy required to grow, birth and raise young is intense, so it's only fair that the female body has some tricks to make sure reproducing is worth it. From cryptic choice to immune system sperm blockers, the female reproductive system can be a literal maze for those seeking to gain access to her eggs. In the battle of the sexes, this is females fight back. Sex is Weird is a series of What the...

When it comes to sexual organs, the penis is really 'out there.' Name another organ that can change its form AND function in a matter of seconds! There's a lot of variety in the animal kingdom; from spikes and nails to coils and collagen — so, this appendage is worth investigating… close up. Sex is Weird is a series of What the Duck?! With Dr Ann Jones following the sexual evolution of the animal...