Yes, ducks have ears located on the side of the head, you can find them a little behind and below the eyes, but there are no outward appendages. The duck ears have soft feathering covering their ear opening. These feathers are called auricular, which protect the ear opening and also help muffle the sound of wind while they are in flight.
Let’s drive in and get to know about the five senses of ducks that they use to navigate around them and stay safe.
How Do Ducks Hear WIthout Ear?
Ducks have ear openings, which allow them to pick up the surrounding voice, sounds, and noise. They simply lack any external appendages like humans do. The ear opening is a bit oval in shape and when the sound waves reach the, they are either diffracted, bent, or passed right through the ear, registering on the opposite ear.
What are the 5 Senses of Ducks?
Ducks have 5 senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, which have developed to protect themselves from predators, find food, and differentiate between food and danger.
So, here are the senses, ducks rely on for safety and survival:
Sight
The sight of the duck is considered to be the most important sense as the eyes are set on the side, it gives them a wider vision field. Ducks can see 360 degrees and that covers most of their surroundings. There are some ducks that can also see in the full cycle and each eye can see a different landscape. So, they can have a panoramic vision and stay aware of their surroundings against predators or other threats.
However, they lack depth perception as it decreases with a wider field of vision. Ducks are unable to determine how far or close a certain object or item is, but there is something that compensates for this, where Ducks are seen to move their head from side to side and also up and down rapidly to create a three-dimensional picture of their surroundings.
Ducks also have powerful eye muscles that control the curvature of the cornea and the lens, this increases the refractive power, so a duck can see two or three times more than a human can. Their sight is highly improved, and due to the presence of cone receptors crystal clear images are formed mostly during the day. They have poor vision, so they try to settle in some safe places rather than roaming about.
Ducks also have a superior sensitivity to motion as the retina has a high concentration of blood vessels, so they can see vibrant colors, such as red, green, yellow, and blue. They are also sensitive to ultraviolet rays due to the presence of cone cells, which help them spot unnatural reflections and make them great hunters.
Hearing
The interesting fact is that even before a duckling hatches, they can listen to the sound of their mother, so after hatching they recognize her and respond to her directions and warnings. Ducks have a sharp ear to understand and differentiate between different calls, such as mating calls, alarm calls, threat calls, potential meals, etc. They can also understand whether the sound is coming from behind them, below them, right next to them, or above them. They can also differentiate between footsteps and other environmental sounds.
Smell
A duck has two nostrils, present high above the beak and these are used to detect smell and differentiate between young ones, mate, and food. Compared with other senses, the smell sense is least developed, as they are not found wandering and sniffing things to detect danger or food. However, they do recognize strong scents or smells around them and maintain extra precautions.
Taste
The dogs’ sense of taste is also not highly developed, but they have fewer taste buds when compared to humans. In general, ducks have 400 taste buds, whereas humans have 9000, so they do not rely on the taste, but on the type of food, which is their main focus. They have an innate ability that helps them to identify which are good foods, which are nutritious, and which they should avoid.
Touch
Touch sensation is important for the ducks when they are foraging for food, as they are used as cattle feeders to search for food in muddy water. In murky water, places where their vision is not helping them out, they use their highly sensitive bill, which helps them to determine the texture and temperature and also understand other physical stimuli. However, the nerve endings in their feet are few, so they might not have a good sensation there, but it helps them to walk in snow and also swim in icy water.
What is the Hearing Capability of a Duck?
A duck can hear 6.85 octaves from 66 Hz to 7.6 kHz, at a level of 60 dB sound pressure level, with a sensitivity of 12.5 dB at 2 kHz.
Can Ducks Hear Music?
Yes, ducks can hear music, but they do not reciprocate the same way as a human would do.
Can a Duck Recognise a Human Voice?
Yes, based on a recent study it has been found that ducks can easily differentiate between human voices who regularly interact with them. They can also recognize faces and respond in a different way to familiar voices.
