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Ducks 'Quack' In Regional Accents

Yithian

Yithian

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Ducks 'quack in regional accents'

It may sound like a load of quackers but according to new research ducks have regional accents.

"Cockney" ducks from London make a rougher sound, not unlike their human counterparts, so their fellow quackers can hear them above the city's hubbub.

But their country cousins communicate with a softer, more relaxed sound, the team from Middlesex University found.

Ducks, like humans, are influenced by their environment, said Dr Victoria De Rijke, who has been nicknamed Dr Quack.

Her research team discovered the difference after recording the quacks of ducks at two separate locations.

The birds at Spitalfields City Farm in the heart of the cockney east London, were found to be "much louder and vocally excitable" than the ducks recorded on Trerieve Farm in Downderry, Cornwall, said English language lecturer Dr De Rijke.

"The Cornish ducks made longer and more relaxed sounds, much more chilled out.

"The cockney (London) quack is like a shout and a laugh, whereas the Cornish ducks sound more like they are giggling," she added.

"London ducks have the stress of city life and a lot of noise to compete with, like sirens, horns, planes and trains."

Language development

The Cornish ducks' open and quiet surroundings made all the difference to the way they quacked, she said.

"So it is like humans; cockneys have short open vowels whereas the Cornish have longer vowels and speak fairly slowly," Dr De Rijke concluded.

The study was designed to look at how language developed and Dr De Rijke now hopes to study the quacking sounds of Irish, Geordie and scouse ducks.

Dr De Rijke said she chose ducks because they were sociable and had a good sense of humour like humans.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3775799.stm
Click to expand...
 
'course not me old China... old China... China

Quack.

See.
 
I read somewhere that whales have accents, of sorts . . .

. . . has anyone done similar research on other animals?

Carole
 
I think anything to do with whales is probably the human's fault. Up until the end of the Age of Sail, whale sound travelled across oceans so the sounds would be the same. Only now that we are sound poluting the oceans is this not happening.
 
It may sound like a load of quackers but according to new research ducks have regional accents.
"Cockney" ducks from London make a rougher sound, not unlike their human counterparts, so their fellow quackers can hear them above the city's hubbub.

But their Cornish cousins communicate with a softer, more relaxed sound, the team from Middlesex University found.

Ducks, like humans, are influenced by their environment, said Dr Victoria De Rijke, who has been nicknamed Dr Quack.
Her research team discovered the difference after recording the quacks of ducks at two separate locations.

The birds at Spitalfields City Farm in the heart of the cockney east London, were found to be "much louder and vocally excitable" than the ducks recorded on Trerieve Farm in Downderry, Cornwall, said English language lecturer Dr De Rijke.

"The Cornish ducks made longer and more relaxed sounds, much more chilled out.

"The cockney (London) quack is like a shout and a laugh, whereas the Cornish ducks sound more like they are giggling," she added.

"London ducks have the stress of city life and a lot of noise to compete with, like sirens, horns, planes and trains."

Language development

The Cornish ducks' open and quiet surroundings made all the difference to the way they quacked, she said.

"So it is like humans; cockneys have short open vowels whereas the Cornish have longer vowels and speak fairly slowly," Dr De Rijke concluded.

The study was designed to look at how language developed and Dr De Rijke now hopes to study the quacking sounds of Irish, Geordie and scouse ducks.

Dr De Rijke said she chose ducks because they were sociable and had a good sense of humour like humans.
Click to expand...

Source.
 
This is old news, but pretty similar:

To everyone but a frog, one croak probably sounds very like another.
But analysis of different croaks has revealed that at least one species of amphibian has developed regional accents in its mating calls.

The accented croaks are thought to have developed during the last ice age when populations of pool frogs were separated for thousands of years.

The discovery was made during a project to return an extinct species of pool frog to wetlands in Eastern England.


Sound start

The discovery of the frog accents was made by amphibian expert Julia Wycherley who was trying to find out which exact sub-species of pool frog (Rana lessonae) had been living in East Anglia before it became extinct.

Ms Wycherley has spent a lot of time listening to frog calls and was convinced that she could hear subtle differences in their mating sounds.

To back up her hunch, she analysed recordings of calls with software, from technology firm SPSS, usually used to reveal trends in human behaviour.

Ms Wycherley compared the length of the different calls, their amplitude and volume. She also looked at the length of separate features in the calls.

She found that pool frogs had three distinct accents that were directly related to their genetic heritage.

Coming back

Bernie Simmons, a spokesman for SPSS, said it was thought the frogs migrated to the warmer climate of southern Europe during the last ice age where they separated into distinct colonies that slowly started to diverge.

Part of that diversity has emerged as regional accents.

The accents are different depending on whether pool frogs belong to the ancient Iberian, Italian or Balkan populations.

"These are the places where the pool frogs hung out during the ice age," said Mr Simmons.

It was thought, said Mr Simmons, that the extinct East Anglian pool frogs would be from the Iberian population simply because Spain is geographically closer to Britain.

But, said Mr Simmons, analysis of fossil frogs from East Anglia showed that the missing group probably came from the Balkans.

"It's important to introduce absolutely the right species," said Mr Simmons. "If not, it will not thrive or develop a community that is self-sustaining."

Now English Nature is planning to acquire a population of Balkan pool frogs and re-introduce them to the East Anglian wetlands.
Click to expand...

Source.
 
Talking musk duck.

Australian musk ducks can imitate sounds including human speech, with one bird recorded repeatedly saying “you bloody fool”, according to a new study.

The recording of the talking duck appears to be the first comprehensively documented instance of the species being able to mimic sounds they hear, joining other birds including songbirds, parrots and hummingbirds.

Ripper, a male musk duck reared in captivity at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, south west of Canberra, was recorded vocalising the sound of doors slamming shut as well as the phrase “you bloody fool”.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-40375067.html
 
I wonder if he has a Lanky accent? Vid at link.

How a Chorley duck who chases binmen became a star

A scarf-clad duck called Ham has won fans due to his mischievous exploits in his neighbourhood in Chorley, Lancashire.

He has become popular with neighbours and schoolchildren after popping over for the occasional visit.

According to his owner, even local binmen have made friends with the duck after being chased by him.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-lancashire-64358406
 
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