DUCK PARADE
Every morning at 9:45 a.m., on Vergenoegd Wine Estate, in Stellenbosch, South Africa, about a thousand Indian Runner ducks run from a gate and run around the white manor house on a manicured gravel path, according to NPR. They might remind one of a military formation where they run in formation, all facing forward and all turning at together at the same time. And they do this twice a day.
The reason? To scare off pests from the vineyard. It’s not a new idea. According to the Livestock Conservancy, runner ducks have been used in Asia for thousands of years to glean snails and insects from rice paddies by eating them, and, no doubt, scaring some away. Denzil Matthys, the duck caretaker at the vineyard, told NPR that the ducks help make the farm sustainable. "We try to keep a pesticide-free farm by using the ducks," he says. "They help us not to use poison on the farm."