Deep Look's video: What Actually Makes Water Roll Off a Duck s Back Deep Look

Ducks and geese spend *a lot* of time preening their all-weather feathers. This obsessive grooming – and a little styling wax from a hidden spot on their back side – maintains the microscopic feather structure that keeps them warm and dry in frigid waters. Please join our community on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/deeplook SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! http://goo.gl/8NwXqt DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small. --- Summer is a great time to be a bird watcher in California. Ducks, geese, and many other species of aquatic birds come to California to breed, build nests and raise broods. If you go to your local pond right now, chances are good that you will see a mallard or Canada goose paddling along with a gaggle of its offspring in tow. But watch for too long and you might find yourself wondering “how do these birds stay warm and dry in the water?” It’s a question that Jack Dumbacher, curator of ornithology and mammalogy at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco has been asked many times. The secret to waterproof waterfowl, it turns out, lies in their feathers. “Aquatic bird feathers are really different than those of other birds,” Dumbacher said. --- What do ducks eat? Ducks eat a lot of different things, from snails and tadpoles to grass and fruit. Some ducks specialize in a certain food like fish, while others are more general in their appetites. Is it OK to feed bread to ducks? Bread is like junk food to ducks and geese because it doesn’t contain the nutrition they need from their typical diet in the wild. Foods like insects and aquatic plants contain more nutrients than carbohydrate-rich bread. How do ducks float? In addition to keeping them warm and helping them fly, ducks rely on their feathers to make them buoyant in water. Soft fuzzy down feathers keep a layer of warm air next to the bird’s skin. The larger vaned feathers create the contour of the duck and keep water out. ---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science: https://www.kqed.org/science/1968261/what-actually-makes-water-roll-off-a-ducks-back ---+ For more information: This 2016 study by scientists at the University of Debrecen in Hungary, shows that aquatic birds like ducks and geese not only have feathers with denser, more tightly knit microstructures than their terrestrial counterparts, but they also have more of them. https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2435.12820 ---+ More Great Deep Look episodes: What Makes Owls So Quiet and So Deadly? | Deep Look https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a68fIQzaDBY&t=39s You've Heard of a Murder of Crows. How About a Crow Funeral? | Deep Look https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixYVFZnNl6s&t=87s ---+ Shoutout! 🏆Congratulations🏆 to the following fans on our Deep Look Community Tab for being the first five to correctly identify the the tiny hooks that keep feathers from splitting apart - barbicels! Avi Harris Mariana C Pyxis Pinkeu Panda0914 geraete 01 ---+ Thank you to our Top Patreon Supporters ($10+ per month)! Alex Alexandre Valdetaro Aurora Aurora Mitchell Bill Cass Blanca Vides Burt Humburg Caitlin McDonough Carlos Carrasco Chris B Emrick Cindy McGill Companion Cube Cristen Rasmussen Daisuke Goto dane rosseter Daniel Pang Daniel Weinstein David Deshpande Dia Dogman Egg-Roll Elizabeth Ann Ditz Geidi Rodriguez Gerardo Alfaro Guillaume Morin Joao Ascensao Josh Kuroda Joshua Murallon Robertson Julie Smith Devous Justin Bull Kallie Moore Karen Reynolds Kelly Hong Kevin Judge Kristy Freeman KW Laura Sanborn Laurel Przybylski Leonhardt Wille Levi Cai Louis O'Neill luna Madhuri Yechuri Mary Truland Misia Clive monoirre Nathan Wright Nicolette Ray Noreen Herrington Pamela Parker Pauley Rick Wong Robert Amling Roberta K Wright Sayantan Dasgupta Sharon Merritt Shebastian Reyes Shelley Pearson Cranshaw Silvan Wendland Sonia Tanlimco Steven SueEllen McCann Supernovabetty Syniurge Tea Torvinen Teresa Lavell TierZoo Titania Juang ---+ Follow KQED Science and Deep Look: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/deeplook Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kqedscience/ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/kqedscience KQED Science on kqed.org: http://www.kqed.org/science Facebook Watch: https://www.facebook.com/DeepLookPBS/ ---+ About KQED KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, Radio and web media. Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is also supported by the National Science Foundation, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Fuhs Family Foundation, Campaign 21 and the members of KQED.