Animal behavioral scientists have recently discovered a talking duck.
The duck learned to mimic its owner’s phrase: “You bloody fool!”
The bird named “Ripper” picked up the amazing trick after it was raised by humans in an Australian bird park, National Post reports.
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The audio recording of the animal was first made in the 1980s.
Leiden University scientist Carel Ten Cate recently discovered the audio that had been previously kept in a sound archive belonging to living ornithologist Peter Fullager. Cate was immediately fascinated by the duck’s incredible vocal ability.
“It’s definitely based on the human voice, even though the pronunciation is a bit odd – which might be the Australian accent, I don’t know,” Cate said.
Cate published his findings in the Netherlands’ Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society biological research journal after learning that the audio was authentic.
According to the study, the musk duck's impressive talent was recorded during a mating display. The study also states that the bird is capable of imitating the sound of a door opening and closing.
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Musk ducks are now listed alongside parrots and mynah birds as a species capable of mimicking human language, according to the video.
Cate told CNN on Friday that this is the first time a duck bred in captivity has ever displayed human ability.
"It's quite exceptional then to come across a species which apparently has the ability to mimic these sounds,” he said.
"It's not exactly a human voice, but very voice like. It's mimicking quite well."
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