When was the last time you saw a duck? How about the last time you actually touched one? They are one of the coolest animals on the planet. In fact, mallard ducks are my favorite animal. They can swim, fly, waddle, and eat faster than a cheetah running full-speed ahead. Okay, I’m entirely sure that last part was true, but ducks are a great species that sometimes get overlooked for whatever reason.

For instance, just look at the appearance of a duck. One of their best features has to be their webbed feet. Most common animals that people see today don’t have this feature, which makes ducks unique (only swans and geese have webbed feet in addition to ducks). Their webbed feet helps them maneuver better in water with both ease of use and speed.

The etymology of ducks came from the Old English word, dūce, or “diver.” They were probably given this name due to how they dive underwater to catch fish – or as they say in The Aristocrats: “Bottoms up!” Not only do ducks catch fish underwater, but mother ducks will often lead their ducklings to water soon after hatching, which sees the ducklings in a single-file line behind the mother duck. Plus, come on, baby ducks are loads of fun to watch play and grow up.

My family used to have pet ducks. I was in middle school at the time. We had somewhere around six to eight ducks waddling around on the family farm. My sister would always be upset with them because they would see their reflection in a mirror through her bedroom window and start quacking at her around 6:00 A.M. every morning. Regardless, they were fun to watch run around the yard and eat their food. Usually every spring there would be baby ducklings waddling behind their mother duck – which was quite a sight to see. They were tame and would even sometimes let us pet them. Those were good times.

Next time you see a duck, appreciate seeing such a beautiful bird. They have great personalities that are much more interesting than people often give them credit for. Most people see them and just acknowledge they are there without actually appreciating them. On campus, we have squirrels and bunnies running around and people love them. My girlfriend always has to stop and look at bunnies (even sometimes trying to pet them), but when it comes to seeing ducks, my girlfriend and me visit a few different parks in the summer to feed them bread or to even just watch them. I wish more people would spend the very short amount of time it takes to appreciate ducks – especially since they are awesome.