Now, a new study published this week in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B analyzed two sets of old recordings of the bird, reports Ellen Phiddian of Cosmos. The new analysis adds musk ducks to a small number of animals able to imitate human speech. In , researchers used a Sony Walkman to record Ripper making several peculiar noises, including mimicking the sound of the door to the nature center's aviary with uncanny accuracy and making mumbling noises that resemble indistinct human speech.
However, the most captivating sounds taped are those of Ripper appearing to imitate a sentence he may have often heard from one of his keepers: "You bloody fool! One duck at a United Kingdom nature park seemed to imitate the snorts of a pony, while another bird made sounds much like the coughing of its keeper and the squeaks of a turnstile. While most animals are born innately knowing to make certain sounds, those with the vocal learning trait can acquire the ability to produce new sounds that they're exposed to frequently.
This skill could be important to musk ducks because the courtship process among males involves specific high-pitched vocalizations, reports Jennifer Hassan of the Washington Post. His flagship website, Quackwatch , and seven related sites have become his principal weapons in that campaign. Soft-spoken, Barrett nevertheless projects confidence in the power of rational discourse.
He personally has never been a victim of quackery. My inclination toward strategic games, combined with my health background and my sense of social justice have all, by sheer luck, focused me. Soon, he and a few like-minded colleagues formed a discussion group on quackery, which evolved into a national network of contacts, and in , into the National Council Against Health Fraud.
In , he created Quackwatch. Along the way, Barrett has become a prolific muckraking journalist. He has co-authored or edited 49 books, including a college text now in its seventh edition. He has had major successes, such as putting teeth into laws that enable the US Postal Service to ban mail order ads for worthless and dangerous health products. Quackwatch contains material that covers an immense span of topics and issues, including carefully documented assessments of specific herbal remedies, and critiques of media-savvy doctors who promote non-standard therapies.
The critiques on Quackwatch note the difference between that which provides a proven, beneficial result, and that which is a dubious claim. The countersuit was withdrawn.
His explanation? The Web site posts what he says is a fair sample of his email. Intelligent people are never fearful of reading opposing viewpoints and can determine for themselves what is right. However, it also enables people like me to put up information. This range of easily-available information is making it possible for healthcare consumers to do exactly what Barrett is doing: read the evidence and make an informed assessment. Baldwin is a freelance medical writer who resides in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
This article is reprinted here with his permission. This new edition of the most comprehensive text available in the field continues to provide a vast amount of information to enable consumers to make wise choices regarding health products and services.
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