Birds eat fish out of ponds, they don’t replenish fish. Or do they?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
How do empty lakes end up full of fish? One theory thinks our feathered friends are key. Which ones? Ducks! But HOW do they help fish move from one place to the next?
Adam Lovas-Kiss and his team from Hungary’s Danube Research Institute took a “quack” at this question. They fed eight thousand carp eggs — a common pond-invader — to eight ducks. Ducks — like us — love caviar!
The birds got a thousand eggs each. After the eggs were eaten, digested, and pooped, the team looked for survivors.
Results? Eighteen of the eight thousand eggs were alive after their FOWL journey. And fourteen of those hatched into perfectly healthy fish! Sure, it’s not a lot — but it’s surprising that ANY of them survived at all!
Amazing — fish eggs using DUCKS as their own personal air transportation system! That’s sum-fin else!
We now know another way fish can travel to new shores! Or at least — new ponds.