What The Duck?!

A group of Killer whales have been hassling boats around Spain over the last few years.  They've been nibbling the rudders and even sinking yachts, but why? Has anyone considered that it might be revenge?  How dangerous are Orcas anyway?  Featuring: Martin Evans, UK Sailor. Professor Peter Keegan, History and Archaeology at Macquarie University.  Dr Rebeca Wellard, Curtin University. Dr Luke Rende...

They smell like a squid in a wool jumper, they sound like a duck on helium, and devoted 'Petrel Heads' travel thousands of kilometres just to hear them moan.   Featuring: Peter Vaughan, Monash University.  Stephen Totterman, Northern NSW Naturalist and seabird enthusiast. Rolenas Tavue Baereleo, Department of Environmental Protection and Conservation, Government of Vanuatu.   Production: Ann Jones...

Have the crabs been lying to us? There are true crabs, false crabs, and even shame-faced crabs which implies that some of them, at least, are guilty. Featuring: Dr Rachael King, SA Museum.  Professor Judith Weis, Rutgers University, Newark.  Dr Annabel Dorrenstein, University of Western Sydney. Production: Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer. Petria Ladgrove, Producer. Additional mastering:  Hamish Ca...

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.   Production: Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer. P...

An extra special, podcast only, five-minute story for you! A bird that stands over a metre tall hardly seems like it'd bow down to a rock star, but Johnny Cash played a burning role in the near-extinction of Californian Condors. Featuring: Dr. Maggie Watson, Zoologist at Charles Sturt University  Production: Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer. This episode of What the Duck?! was produced on the land...

An ornithologist, a veterinarian and a religious devotee must find the serial killer before every last vulture in India is dead. Featuring: Dr Campbell Murn, Head of Conservation at Hawk Conservancy Trust and University of Reading, UK. Dr Kishor Rithe, Interim Director, Bombay Natural History Society.  Dr Andrea Santangeli, Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies, Spain. Dr Percy Avari, Mumba...

We get a bit philosophical and try to find out that if animals do dream, will we ever be able to know what they’re dreaming about? Featuring: Cassie, Claire and Pidgey the Parrot.  Associate Professor Nicole Lovato, Flinders University.  Associate Professor John Lesku, La Trobe University.  Professor David Pena Guzman, author of ‘Animal Dreaming’ and San Francisco State University.   Professor Sid...

Birds can fly while half their brain is sleeping and some spiders sleep dangling on a silk thread, but what about worms. Do worms sleep? Featuring: Associate Professor John Lesku, La Trobe University.  Dr Shauni Omond, @shauniomond.sleepsci on Instagram, La Trobe University.   Professor Niels Rattenborg, Research leader on Avian Sleep, Max Planck Institute.  Dr Daniela Roessler, University of Kons...

Boob-shaping hiccups are very sexy in the sage grouse world, but whose chesticles are in charge? Featuring: Lucy Cooke, Zoologist and author of Bitch A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal. Professor Gail L Patricelli,  University of California, Davis.  Production: Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer. Petria Ladgrove, Producer. Additional mastering:  John Jacobs. This episode of...

Female lab mice have been bred to be passive and breed with ease. But, in the wild they're feisty and even pugnacious. How much of our biological understanding of the world is based on misogyny? Featuring: Lucy Cooke, Zoologist and author of Bitch A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal. Professor Arthur Georges, University of Canberra. Professor Catherine Dulac, Harvard Univ...

A tiny penis, a 12-hour annual fertilisation window, picky females and strawberry bubble bath – these are just a few of the issues that pop up when making a panda cub. Featuring: Chad Crittle, Acting Assistant Curator for Carnivores and Ungulates at Zoos SA. Mr Li Zhang, Consul, Head  of Bilateral Section at the Chinese Consulate-General in Adelaide. Dr Meghan Martin Wintle, Director, Conservation...

Forget ancestry searches online. Shells can tell you the history of the world. Featuring: Amy Prendergast, University of Melbourne. Jann Vendetti, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.  Dr Paul Butler, Researcher at the University of Exeter. 

For thousands of years eels have made people rich and powerful, literally. Now it's time to pay it back.  Featuring: Dr. John Wyatt Greenlee, Historian Cornell University.  Erin Rose, Budj Bim World Heritage Executive Officer at Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation. Braydon Saunders, Tour Guide Coordinator at Budj Bim Cultural Landscape Tourism. Tyson Lovett-Murray, Budj Bim W...

For years we've barely even talked about the human clitoris let alone the fact that snakes have TWO.  This program has adult themes. Featuring: Belinda Smith, ABC Science Online Reporter.  Lucy Cooke, Author and Film maker. Megan Folwell, University of Adelaide. Dr Jenna Crowe-Riddell, La Trobe University. Production: Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer. Petria Ladgrove, Producer. Additional mastering...

They look like... 'sabre-toothed sausages', they can barely see, they live for a really long time and have a queen who oppresses them. Find out all about the Naked Mole-rat this week and let us know your weirdest animal on earth suggestions at whattheduck@abc.net.au . Featuring: Dr Alison Barker, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research. Adjunct Professor Rochelle Buffenstein,  University of Illino...

Would you meet a stranger in a park with a pile of snakes?  Comedian, Craig Quartermaine, took the risk in an attempt to overcome his fears! Featuring: Craig Quartermaine, Comedian.  Sandy Dickinson, Urban Reptiles. Jonathan Wright, Announcer voice.  Production: Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer. Petria Ladgrove, Producer. Joel Werner, Script Editor.  Field recording: Dylan Prins Additional masterin...

Who made small steps for man before man could even space walk? Featuring: James Foley, Author and Illustrator. Kerrie Dougherty OAM, Senior Heritage and Outreach Officer, Australian Space Agency. Emeritus Professor John P. Gluck, University of New Mexico and Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University. Michael Coggan, News Voice.  Production: Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer. Petria Ladgrove...

He loved gold, so he robbed stage coaches in South Australia and used an ostrich as a getaway car. OR DID HE?!  Welcome to the first episode of 'What The Duck?!' Season 2. Featuring: Denice Mason, teacher and Meningie resident. Associate Professor Rohan Clarke, Monash University and co-author of the Australian Bird Guide. Jacob Fiebig, Meningie resident and composer of "The ballad of John Peggotty...

Gravity defying ninja skills, being able to hear even if you don't have ears, working together to gang up on huge prey. Spiders are murder machines.  This is the final episode of Season 1 What the Duck?!    Stay subscribed for Season 2 coming on Feb 11th, 2023. Featuring: Dr Kate Umbers, Western Sydney University. Dr Alfonso Aceves-Aparicio, University Hamburg. Dr Jay Stafstrom, Cornell University...

If you think that cow politics is just about the live export business, you are wrong. Cows have politics of their own – machinations to sort out who is the leader and who will be led.  Featuring: Dr Rebecca Doyle, Faculty of Veterinary & Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne. Joe Gelonisi - the voice of cow facts.  Derek Klingenberg, cattle trombonist. Production: Ann Jones, Prese...

Here’s a field guide you probably don’t have — “Introduced Dung Beetles in Australia".

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 Jones...

Ever wondered about the spiders in your car mirror? How they got there and ‘where the duck’ they’re going?   FEATURING Dr Ken Walker, Senior Curator of Entomology, Museums Victoria Research Institute.  Dr Laurent Keller, University of Lausanne Production: Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer. Petria Ladgrove, Producer. Joel Werner, Script Editor.  Additional mastering: Angela Grant. This episode of Wha...

The 'sound of summer' is actually thousands of blokes screaming 'PICK ME' at the top of their screaming cicada voices.

A millipede has a thousand legs right? WRONG! FEATURING Dr Juanita Rodriguez, Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO. Dr Bruno Alves Buzatto, Flinders University. Luis Villazon, Science Educator UK.  Production: Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer. Petria Ladgrove, Producer. Additional mastering: Angela Grant. This episode of What the Duck?! was produced on the land of the Wadawarrung and the Ka...