What The Duck?!
The show with a mission to explore the mysteries of nature - especially the ones that make you go What the Duck?!
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 23 minutes
- Episodes
- 171
- Years Active
- 2022 - 2025
What's brown and sticky?
If you ever wanted to be able to stick to walls like spider man, then listen to this.
How do geckos and ants walk easily up walls and across the ceiling?
Is an insect foot sticky in the same way as…
00:25:40 |
Fri 05 Sep 2025
Mars on Earth: Salt lake life
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.
Featuring:
Bonnie Teece, Postgraduate Researcher at UNSW
A…
00:25:45 |
Fri 29 Aug 2025
Is anything true blue?
Ann finds out that birds are not really blue. Not even bluebirds. If they're not blue, then what the duck are they?
Featuring:
Richard McClure, Stems Flower Market, Ballarat.
Nate Byrne, ABC News Br…
00:25:45 |
Fri 22 Aug 2025
Australia's most underrated animal: Winner!
Listen back to the What the Duck?! special broadcast with Dr Ann Jones and Cassie McCullagh.
After 65,000 votes, Australia has spoken — the rakali has been crowned Australia's most underrated native…
00:54:58 |
Fri 15 Aug 2025
Underrated animals: Dugong
They live off seagrass, and sound like a teeny bird, but can weigh in at more than 400 kilograms and will cut you with their tusks.
Dugongs (Dugong dugon) were once confused for mermaids.
Yanyuwa p…
00:07:00 |
Sat 09 Aug 2025
Underrated animals: Palm Cockatoo
It's a bold claim, but the palm cockatoo might be the most punk-rock bird of all.
The black and scarlet parrot lives in the rainforests and woodlands of Far North Queensland, as well as the Aru Isla…
00:07:48 |
Fri 08 Aug 2025
Underrated animals: Great desert skink
This little orange lizard lives with his mum and poos outside. What's not to love?
The great desert skink (Liopholis kintorei) can be found in the deserts of the Northern Territory, South Australia,…
00:08:30 |
Thu 07 Aug 2025
Underrated animals: Marsupial mole
What has no eyes, no ears, and is barely ever seen? It's no riddle — it's the marsupial mole!
These tiny, golden creatures like to burrow through the sands in central Australia, making the two speci…
00:08:42 |
Wed 06 Aug 2025
Underrated animals: Turtle frog
This tiny frog is pasty white, with big arms, a teeny head, and is — somehow — still absolutely adorable.
The turtle frog (Myobatrachus gouldii) can be found in a small part of south-west Western Au…
00:06:18 |
Tue 05 Aug 2025
Underrated animals: Short-finned eel
They can travel over land, climb walls and take down large prey. And that's all before the short-finned eel (Anguilla australis) makes it out into the ocean for their epic migration to mate.
The loc…
00:08:30 |
Mon 04 Aug 2025
Underrated animals: Rakali
Sure, it's a rat, but it's Australia's own cheeky little water rat!
The rakali (Hydromys chrysogaster) is Australia's largest rodent, and can be found in the waterways all around Australia.
Cast yo…
00:07:30 |
Sun 03 Aug 2025
Underrated animals: Velvet worm
They shoot glue, puree their enemies, and are about the size of a leaf.
With 140 species of southern velvet worms (Peripatopsidae), and most of those in Australia, these tiny creatures are our home-…
00:05:30 |
Sat 02 Aug 2025
Underrated animals: Ghost bat
The ghost bat (Macroderma gigas) is Australia's only carnivorous bat, so it's probably not a good idea to make fun of their giant ears and unique nose.
They live in large colonies of up to 1500 indi…
00:08:14 |
Fri 01 Aug 2025
Underrated animals: Giant cuttlefish
They can grow up to a metre and the world's largest cuttlefish species can also disappear in a puff of ink and mucus.
The giant cuttlefish (Ascarosepion apama) is an oddball, and you can catch a gli…
00:08:00 |
Thu 31 Jul 2025
What's in your freezer?
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, Murdoch University.
Dr Jillian Garvey, La Tro…
00:26:15 |
Fri 25 Jul 2025
Self-medicating species: Animals that say yes to drugs
It turns out self-medicating and herbal remedies are not exclusive to humans.
From cats eating grass, to elephants making medicinal tea in their throat pouch — the animal world has its own prescript…
00:26:16 |
Fri 18 Jul 2025
Old and smelly: Farts from the past
Fossils tell us a lot about the past, but are there fossilised farts? (Spoiler, YES!)
Look back at great farts of history, and the story of methane.
Do birds not fart?
And which creature is respon…
00:26:15 |
Fri 11 Jul 2025
Old and smelly: Farts from the past
Fossils tell us a lot about the past, but are there fossilised farts? (Spoiler, YES!)
Look back at great farts of history, and the story of methane.
Do birds not fart?
And which creature is respon…
00:25:16 |
Fri 11 Jul 2025
Does it Fart?
Farts are not just for laughs. There are farts for survival, for communication, and even to attack!
But it turns out it's tricky to get scientists to agree on what actually constitutes a fart.
Stil…
00:25:51 |
Fri 04 Jul 2025
Hybrids, dog breeds and DNA: What makes a species?
It's a seemingly simple question from What the Duck?! listener Skylar: how do scientists determine a new species?
Turns out, it's complicated.
And it's got Ann Jones impersonating a dog on the inte…
00:26:06 |
Thu 26 Jun 2025
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