Thousands of Rubber Duckies to Land in Britain After 15-Year Journey

The Daily Mail reports that thousands of "Friendly Floaties" rubber duckies who've traveled the seas since they fell off a Chinese freighter in a storm in 1992, are about to land in England. And oh! the missed marketing opportunities make my head hurt.

Astoundingly, no scientist got a gazillion dollar grant to study rubber duckie migration, or to track how rubber duckies reproduce, or the kinds of interactions they had with dolphins.

C'mon you scientists. Just recently the NY Times had a story about a woman who studies duck genitalia. She visits a sanctuary every two weeks to measure the phalluses of six species of ducks.

So I am astounded, and profoundly disappointed that the rubber duckies didn't even merit a study. And hey! Where's the rubber duckie blog? And the video blog? And the live tracking of the armada? Dear scientists, you have fallen down on the job!

Scientists originally thought the Duckie Armada might make shore on America's Atlantic coast. The manufacturer, The First Years Inc. then put a bounty of a $100 savings bond on each duckies head. (Only for those found in New England, Iceland, and Canada). Many scientists that this was going to be the end of the duckies' odyssey.

They were wrong. The rubber duckies that didn't wash up in the US have continued to travel in the Atlantic, and 17,000 miles and 15 years later are now heading towards Britain. They have lost their color, but these tough little ducks are still going strong.

The duckie manufacturer, The First Years Inc is owned by rc2 Corp, which recently recalled Chinese-made Thomas & Friends wooden trains because of lead paint contamination.

Posted by B.L. Ochman