: How does a mother duck know to wait for all of its ducklings to keep up?

Question

Can they count? Do they have names (as such) for each duckling?

As they swim around their given body of water, how do they know to keep their roost together and ensure that no ducklings have been left behind?

In: 0

Answer 1

“A mother duck makes a gentle clucking noise to keep her brood together, and the babies peep in response. But ducks can’t count, so if a duckling gets separated from his family Mama won’t notice that he’s missing if he’s out of sight and she can’t hear his peeping.”

[Source](https://discoverwildcare.org/make-way-ducklings/#:~:text=Dangers%20for%20Ducklings&text=A%20mother%20duck%20makes%20a,can’t%20hear%20his%20peeping)