What The Duck?!

Fisticuffs, ego, and the great tomato virus discovery of the 20th century

05 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's the early 20th century,  a government scientist position was determined by a boxing match, and a tomato virus threatened to stop the developmen...

Can plants get cancer?

28 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Plants are fully sick right now - and not just because indoor plants are in fashion. They have an immune system, they get infections, and can catch ...

Electric Eel- an attitude problem and access to its own taser

21 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 electri...

Flaco the escapee owl flew free in New York City ... until he met his end on a window pane

14 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 Ea...

When animals put other animals in jail

07 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Usually, it's humans putting animals in cages, but sometimes the animals do it to themselves.Female platypus lock themselves in burrows to breed, gre...

Why snakes remain deadly even after they're dead

31 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

At first, you might think it is a plot from a zombie movie: that undead animals are coming for you.But it turns out that Australia's animals aren't j...

Do animals dream?

24 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Cassie and Claire have watched their parrot talk in its sleep... so is it dreaming?And, if animals DO dream... will we ever know what they’re dream...

Do worms sleep?

17 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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:Asso...

The Sage-grouse dance

10 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Female sage-grouse birds have decided that they want to see a weird sexy dance when deciding on a mate.Ann Jones explores the creativity of female ch...

Hyenas and lab mice - does sex matter?

03 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 under...

Shells with stories to tell

26 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

There's a whole world of mystery, and quite a bit of maths,  inside the humble sea shell.Forget ancestry searches online, shells can tell you the hi...

The merits of menopause. End of. Period.

19 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

There's only a handful of animals on earth that go through menopause, where females get to hang up the ovaries and enjoy a change of life.So, why hav...

Extreme traps in nature

12 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We will all go to trouble to get a good meal, but some animals take it to the extreme.Some build architectural masterpieces to entrap their prey, or ...

Phantasmic Mr Fox

05 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Despite spending years and millions of dollars, the Tasmanian Fox Eradication team never, not once, not ever, spotted a live fox on the Apple Isle.Wh...

What the [sheeping] flock?

29 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

You have a lot to thank sheep for. Yes, sheep.More than just wool and meat — sheep have played a part in the development of contraception and repro...

Purely for pleasure

22 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Face your fear of snakes

15 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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:C...

Animals with extreme minimalist mindsets

08 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Could a legless lizard be 'minimalist of the year' for famous podcaster T. K. Coleman?Ann Jones leads an unlikely gang of animal experts on a tidy da...

Mother Nature does it better (ASMR edition)

01 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) is a tingly sensation that can bring relaxation, and it's spawned a growing industry of videos online of ...

Why do Quolls have spots?

23 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine you've just been cancelled for a controversial opinion about Taylor Swift's musical output, and you have to go to ground.You can act like the...

Butts. What are they good for?

16 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Right now, you’re probably sitting on one of the most unique things about humans. One thing that separates us from the apes, from the birds, from E...

How many animals REALLY live in your house?

09 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How many species live around your house?In the COVID lockdown of 2020, three housemates decided to count.They thought there’d only be a handful, bu...

Space race- the animal edition

02 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Fruit flies, guinea pigs, frogs, monkeys, turtles, cats and dogs… all sorts of animals have been to space.Find out who made small steps for mankind...

SUMMER - Silence of the vultures

19 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

An ornithologist, a veterinarian and a religious devotee must find the serial killer before every last vulture in India is dead.The episode was first...

SUMMER - Are Naked Mole-rats the weirdest animals on earth?

12 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ab...

SUMMER - The ostrich-riding bushranger

05 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

He loved gold, so he robbed stagecoaches in South Australia and used an ostrich as a getaway car. OR DID HE?!This episode was first published on the ...

SUMMER- Kneel before the eel

29 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For thousands of years eels have made people rich and powerful, literally. Now it's time to pay it back.This episode was originally published on the ...

SUMMER- Birds, bees and a wang wang with a problem.

22 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Who's a good girl?

15 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ann Jones does a DNA test to see if she is a dog!This is the final episode for Season 5 of What the Duck?! We will be back in February with new episo...

Is the pigeon the weirdest animal on earth?

08 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It is related to the dodo, makes milk and even played a role in the French Revolution. Surely this bird deserves some recognition?Featuring:Rosemary ...

Can you speak fish?

01 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Someone get a translator app because the fish are ready to speak. Featuring:Lauren Hawkins, Centre for Marine Science and Technology at Curtin Unive...

Nature's vibrators

24 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

They make THEMSELVES scream. Featuring:Dr. Perry Beasley Hall, Adelaide University.Ernesto Caliari Pinheiro, Acoustic biologist, Brazil.Professor Ma...

Mike-owl Jackson, Gorillaz and The Pussycat Dolls- are animals musical?

17 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Can animals create, or even enjoy music? Ann rips through the animal kingdom to check out the musical talent of some likely and unlikely animals.Feat...

Glow your own way

06 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Are you high, or is that a sheep glowing?Featuring:Linda Reinhold, Zoologist at James Cook University.Professor Simon Lewis, Curtin University. Dr. ...

Killer whales vs boats

29 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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, ...

Petrel heads in love

22 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Feeling crabby

15 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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....

Who's your Daddy?

08 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 in...

POD EXTRA: Johnny Cash and the Condor fire

02 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 Jo...

Silence of the vultures

01 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

An ornithologist, a veterinarian and a religious devotee must find the serial killer before every last vulture in India is dead.Featuring:Dr Campbell...

Do worms dream?

28 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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,...

Sleep like a log

21 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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:Ass...

Why don't you act like a girl?

14 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Bitch! Who is really in charge?

07 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 und...

Birds, bees and a wang wang with a problem.

31 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Shells with stories to tell

24 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Forget ancestry searches online. Shells can tell you the history of the world.Featuring:Amy Prendergast, University of Melbourne.Jann Vendetti, Nat...

Kneel before the eel

17 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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, Historia...

Purely for pleasure

10 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Are Naked Mole-rats the weirdest animals on earth?

03 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 ab...

Craig Vs Snakes

24 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Animals in Space

17 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Who made small steps for man before man could even space walk?Featuring:James Foley, Author and Illustrator.Kerrie Dougherty OAM, Senior Heritage and...

The ostrich-riding bushranger

10 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 'Wha...

Spider murder methods

16 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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. ...

The politics of being a cow

09 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Inside a cow pat

02 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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

Hitchhikers guide to ecology 

25 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Grabbing a lift can go from bad to worse when your uber drops you outside your evolutionary niche. FEATURINGDr Matt Greenlees, Sydney University.Art...

Field guide to car ecology

18 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ever wondered about the spiders in your car mirror? How they got there and ‘where the duck’ they’re going?  FEATURINGDr Ken Walker, Senior C...

How to speak Cicada

11 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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

Never skip leg day

04 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A millipede has a thousand legs right? WRONG!FEATURINGDr Juanita Rodriguez, Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO.Dr Bruno Alves Buzatto, Fli...

Animals on acid

28 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It turns out self medicating and herbal remedies are not exclusive to humans…FEATURINGDr Kevin Feeney, Central Washington University.Adjunct Profes...

The big bad wolf – have we got it wrong?

21 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How far from reality are the folk stories about wolves and dogs? We’re going right back to Aesop’s fables with zoologist and author Jo Wimpenny. ...

It DOES fart!

14 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The world's oldest fart is frozen in amber, and it is the source of the world's oldest fart joke. Listen to part one (Does it Fart?!) here.FEATURING...

What's in your freezer?

07 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Move the peas over to find that Australian freezers have seals, kangaroo penises and the DNA of 'the Chanel of goats.'FEATURING:Dr Natalie Warburton,...

It's still brown and sticky!

30 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There are so many sticky things in nature, but what's the nature of their stickiness? Ann puts on her spider-woman gloves to find out.FEATURING:Ella ...

What's brown and sticky?

23 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If you ever wanted to be able to stick to walls like spider man, then listen to this. 

The flies have it

16 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As per usual the What the Duck?! team is elbow-deep in crap looking for a way out. And the way out, is flies. FEATURING:Dr Bryan Lessard, Entomologi...

A short break for What the Duck?!

26 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What the Duck?! is taking a short break so instead you'll be hearing Radio New Zealand’s 'Our Changing World' on the radio for the next three weeks...

Trees call out fake news

19 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sawing through tree myths with Arborists Maja and Sam.No matter how good your job is, there’s always something that really cheeses you off, and Maj...

Why is my tree weeping?

12 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The duckie inbox has been swamped with tree mysteries.

Could you eat an animal that does it in the missionary position?

05 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ann revisits the release site of a bunch of (almost extinct) Murray Crayfish to find out the crays have been completing sexy rhythmic gymnastics in ...

Stinging Science

29 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

He makes things sting him on purpose. WHY.

The bird-eating centipede

22 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It’s like a serial killer movie, a classic horror film. There are huge fangs, a segmented body, a remote location, the ocean bashes against cliffs,...

Become the Cuckoo

15 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How does a cuckoo know it's a cuckoo?

Animals that mine

08 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

So... what do you do when a crocodile and a shark end up in your mine pit? AT THE SAME TIME. 

Does it fart?

01 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Farts can be a matter of life or death, but not in the way that you're thinking. This is SERIOUS. 

Little Penguins

24 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Promiscuous penguins, climate change and penguin first aid.

Koala AIDS (that’s all we need!)

17 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How much more can the koala bear?

Blood suckers

10 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

You can run but you can't hide! Ever wondered how a mosquito manages to hit a blood vessel without fail?

The Roast Chook Fungi

03 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It looks as if a roast chook had been tied to a four-poster bed. 

Guess who’s back?

27 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Back again!? The thylacine has made its last appearance alive on earth. Or has it? Ann chases the elusive Tasmanian Tiger with geneticists, conserva...

True Blue  

20 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ann finds out that birds are not really blue. Not even bluebirds. They’re not blue. Then what the duck are they?  

BONUS - Who the Duck am I? The ANSWER

19 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Ann Jones has the answer to the game of 'Who the duck?!' this week.Thanks for your many guesses and emails... it is now time for the big reveal. ...

BONUS - Who the Duck am I? #3

13 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Ann Jones is out filming for ABC TV , but she hasn't forgotten the loyal subscribers.Here's the final clue to a game of 'Who the duck?!' just for ...

BONUS - Who the Duck am I? #2

06 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Ann Jones is out filming for ABC TV , but she hasn't forgotten the loyal subscribers.Here's another clue to a game of 'Who the duck?!' just for yo...

BONUS - Who the Duck am I?

29 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Ann Jones is out filming for ABC TV , but she hasn't forgotten the loyal subscribers.Here's a clue to a game of 'Who the duck?!' just for you!Plea...

Australian native animals as pets. Yes/No  

22 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ann stumbles across spinifex hopping mice on gumtree and then finds herself cornered by a bloke with a crocodile (and more). 

A girl walks in the woods

15 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

After receiving a heartbreaking email, Ann goes on a mission to prove that ‘girls DO like spiders.’  

How to catch an Emu

08 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Taking on an Emu is 100% a mind game.  

Man vs quoll

01 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Between 1831 and 1916 there were 111 published reports of quolls eating human corpses. What. The. Duck?!

Aesop's Animals

25 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What is the science behind the famous fables like the tortoise and the hare? 

Wearing the skins of your enemies 

18 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes it’s not enough to liquify your enemies and drink them through a straw. Sometimes you have to wear their skins as you hunt down their fri...

Salty extremophiles

11 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This place is so extreme that NASA sends scientists to test equipment for Mars missions. And yet, Australia's salty lakes are full of life.

Snakes and Ladders

04 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How does a snake climb a pole? It's not like they have a ladder... or arms.

The kookaburra that conquered Hollywood

25 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Yes, that was a kookaburra at the start of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. But WHY?  

Tits, boobies and hooters

18 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Why is it that bird names seem so… childishly misogynistic? 

Are you really better than a bum-licking ant?

11 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Humans totally were the first farmers, right?! Think again.  

Eat sh*t and prosper

04 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Evolution has resulted in a million ways that animals succeed on this earth, we just didn’t realise so many of them involved eating your own poo. ...

Duck the Ripper

28 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ripper the musk duck had many bad habits – chief among them was attacking the keepers and then swearing under his breath. But was Ripper really ang...

INTRODUCING — What The Duck?!

20 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Australia is full of weird plants and animals. And Dr Ann Jones is on speaking terms with most of them! Each week Ann explores the most unusual eleme...