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Ducks, Poop, & YouAn in-depth experiment on how bread

affects the feces of a duck.

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How does the amount of bread in a Duck’s diet affect the quantity of poop it excretes?

One might expect that a park manager’s worst nightmare is cleaning and maintaining the

field, but such an expectation would be a mistake. When it comes to ponds and lakes, park

managers begin to resent ducks or any other type of bird that lack sphincters. While duck’s may be

adorable animals, because they do not have a sphincter, if they have to release their excrement, it

is beyond their control and they will do it right away. Most hazards related to animal feces are

specifically related to the inhalation and physical contact of the contaminated materials. (Animal

Feces Removal) The extra bread and remains in the pond may also negatively affect the chemical

balance of the water. The chemical composition of feces is called skatol and it is either Methyl indol

(C9H9N) or Methylindol Udskriv artiklen. (Poonurse) The excess of bread in a duck’s feces makes it

more acidic causing irritability for the ducks intestine and gastrointestinal tract. This damage can

significantly diminish not just the ducks life but also other animals and critters living in the same

body of water. Most fish require water with the correct acid-alkaline balance. (Alkaline Water)

When the pH of the body gets out of balance (too acidic), the animals may experience low energy,

fatigue, excess weight, poor digestion, aches and pains, and even more serious disorders. The

purpose of this experiment is to see to what extent feeding ducks bread exacerbates the problem

and it will answer the question of how does the amount of bread in a Duck’s diet affect s the

quantity of poop it excretes.

To test this hypothesis, we need to collect a diverse group of ducks from different

ponds/lakes around the world. We will collect around 10 ducks per species we gather and these

species will include: Mallard (from America, Europe, Asia, New Zealand, and Australia), Pekin (from

China), Redhead (from Western North-America), Mexican Mallard (from Mexico), and Wood Duck

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(from North America). There are a few variables at stake here. There is obviously the species of the

duck because ducks vary with their response to the food they eat. There is also the type of bread

that is ingested. Because the bread fed to a duck tends to be conventional bread found in a

household, I will use wheat bread, sweet bread, and corn bread.

With these five species of Ducks, three different kinds of bread, and three different amounts

of food (control, 50/50, only bread), we are left with 45 different permutations of testing. Like every

proper experiment, a control is needed. The control in this experiment will just be the duck eating

normal waterfowl that is found in the lake/pond. Then we need a hybrid between the waterfowl

and bread, so half of the ducks diet will be waterfowl and the other half will be bread. The last

amount of food in the ducks diet will be solely comprised of bread. The experiment will last 2-4

weeks so we can accurately observe if the bread is causing a significant difference. Every few days

we will take the pH level of the water to test the change of acidity of the water. If there is an

increase in the pH level or the ducks produce more excrement, then my hypothesis would be

supported.

The results of this study can influence the decisions of park managers to ban or allow

feeding bread (or other food) to the ducks, thus potentially saving hundreds of millions of dollars in

either janitorial costs (if bread causes more excrement) or signage/enforcement costs (if it does not

cause more excrement). Bread is not part of a ducks natural diet. While they are a good source of 

carbohydrates, they offer little other nutritional value for ducks, waterfowl and other birds. In fact,

bread is the equivalent to junk food for the birds and too much bread can lead to excessive weight

and malnutrition as well as many other problems. The excess in weight makes it much more difficult

for ducks to fly. Thus it seems that Ducks are constantly weighed down by shit. 

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References:

"Alkaline Water." Alkaline. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct 2010. <http://www.alkaline.org/alkaline_water.htm> 

"Animal Feces Removal." Advanced Wildlife Control LLC . N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct 2010.

<http://www.advancedwildlifecontrolllc.com/animalfeces.html> 

Poonurse, . "Chemical Composition of Poop." Poop Report . N.p., 13 FEB 2004. Web. 10 Oct 2010.

<http://www.poopreport.com/Doctor/Knowledgebase/chemicalcomposition.html>.