It is a duck with a bird’s mouth.
An Australian musk duck named Ripper has been repeatedly recorded saying “foolish fool” after learning to imitate humans.
The audio of Ripper’s new appearance was included in an investigation published Monday in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B magazine.
The sworn musk duck was raised by hand in the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, near the Australian capital, Canberra, in the 1980s.
Ripper, who was only four years old when the recordings were made, is believed to have learned the phrase from his manipulator.
The duck also learned to mimic the sound of the birdhouse door narrowing.
He is the focus of new research analyzing recordings of musk ducks to see how animals are able to acquire vocalization through learning.
Researcher Carel ten Cate from the Leiden Institute of Biology in the Netherlands led the study after hearing rumors about the Australian-speaking duck.
Ten Cate tracked the images which were recorded by Australian aveller Peter Fullagar around 1987.
“The man, Peter Fullagar, told me the duck was raised by hand and that he would have heard the sound of a duckling,” Ten Cate said.
The researcher believes it may be the first documented account of a duck imitating a human being.
‘It was a big surprise. Because, even though the bird was registered 35 years ago, so far researchers in the field of vocal learning have gone unnoticed, ”said Ten Cate.
“That makes it a very special rediscovery.”