In these times of economic crises and cutbacks, it’s good to see that there is still room for essential research. After three years of research, costing £294,027, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) can now reveal:
Ducks like water, and rain in particular.
This will, of course, come as a great surprise to most people, but it is apparently true.
Defra sponsored research to:
ascertain the importance of bathing water to ducks by quantifying their motivation to gain access to water in which they can bathe
The report concludes that, after offering a number of different water supplies to ducks including a trough, a pond, shower and nipple drinker, the birds favoured standing under a shower. Ducks given showers spent more than twice as long standing under the water while resting than with water in a bath or elsewhere and drank a third more water in the showers.
And, wait for it. Further studies are planned to find out how often ducks use showers.
According to Defra:
The purpose of this research was to help determine the most appropriate method of providing water and maintaining hygiene in the duck rearing industry