# ducks' half-brain
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks-half-brain/138
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [July 8, 1999, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks-half-brain/138 "1999-07-08T05:16:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 8, 1999, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks-half-brain/138/1 "1999-07-08T05:16:00Z")
HA! Finally my school, Indiana State is famous for something besides Larry Bird!!
Thanks Cecil.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 8, 1999, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks-half-brain/138/2 "1999-07-08T11:28:00Z")
Indiana State - Where the men are men and the ducks are skittish. š
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 8, 1999, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks-half-brain/138/3 "1999-07-08T13:33:00Z")
Duck #1 - Whatcha gonna do this afternoon?
Duck #2 - Dunno, Iāve got half a mind to take a nap.
* * *
The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. ā E. Grebenik
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 8, 1999, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks-half-brain/138/4 "1999-07-08T15:09:00Z")
In your (Cecilās) discussion, you mention that the ducks on the end keep their outer eye (the one facing away from the group) open 86% of the time, while the ducks in the middle keep it open only 56% (if i remember correctly) of the time. My question is, how can the ducks in the middle have an outer eye, given the part of the group is on either side of said duck??? I would appreciate a clarification, pleaseā¦
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 9, 1999, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks-half-brain/138/5 "1999-07-09T05:52:00Z")
I wonder if practical joker ducks will pretend to sleep on the outside, and then fly away when the middle ducks are snoozing, leaving them unprotected 30% more.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 9, 1999, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks-half-brain/138/6 "1999-07-09T08:38:00Z")
Gromit, there were four ducks in each row. Thus, the second and third ducks sat closer to the one end than to the other. I presume the āouterā eye would have been the one pointing towards the close end.
Holger
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 10, 1999, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks-half-brain/138/7 "1999-07-10T05:47:00Z")
[[I wonder if practical joker ducks will pretend to sleep on the outside, and then fly away when the middle ducks are snoozing, leaving them unprotected 30% more.]]
I think the reason ducks āstay awakeā on the outside and āsleepā on the inside (where the other ducks are) is to protect themselves; not the other ducks.
Jill
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 9, 1999, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks-half-brain/138/8 "1999-07-09T23:01:00Z")
Holger, I see your point, but Iām not sure that birds can ācount.ā Seems like I remember seeing one of those nature shows in my youth, and they mentioned that birds canāt really tell one from two. Perhaps Cecil (or the author of the original study) should have been more specificā¦
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 12, 1999, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ducks-half-brain/138/9 "1999-07-12T07:50:00Z")
Gromit, even if ducks canāt count, Iām sure theyāll have some feeling of quantity, either absolute (many/few) or relative (more/less/fewer). If that fails, they certainly have some idea of distance (towards the edge of the group), without which theyād be unable to fly, swim, or eat.
Interestingly, Cecil, didnāt tell us how much of the time ducks kept open their _inner_ eyes. Maybe that one was at 53% as well. Or maybe it was 50%, and the difference is negligible; maybe it was caused by just one duck that could count and raised the average. š
Holger