--- title: "Expert: China is Not Deploying Duck Army to Devour Locusts" description: "A mysterious video that claimed China would be sending a 100,000 duck army to Pakistan to devour a locust invasion went viral on Chinese social media." date: "2020-02-27" modified: "2020-02-27" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/china-not-deploying-duck-army" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "china" - "ducks" - "locusts" - "the digest" --- # Expert: China is Not Deploying Duck Army to Devour Locusts ![A mysterious video that claimed China would be sending 100,000 ducks to Pakistan to help deal with a locust invasion went viral on Chinese social media.]() *\Image: Victor Tangermann\* ## Duck Tales A video claiming China would be sending 100,000 ducks to Pakistan to help deal with the worst locust invasion in decades went viral on Chinese social media website Weibo this week, generating more than [half a billion views](). Mainstream media, including [*TIME*](), [the *BBC*](), and *[CNET]()* ended up reporting on the story — but turns out that it was likely fake. ## Duck Yourself China Agricultural University professor Zhang Long set the record straight Thursday. "Ducks rely on water, but in Pakistan’s desert areas, the temperature is very high," Zhang explained, as [quoted by *The Guardian*](). Over the last couple of years, cute ducks have [become a huge obsession]() for Chinese netizens, who lovingly turned them into countless memes, possibly explaining why the video went viral on social media. ## Mighty Ducks But deploying an army of ducks to fight locusts is not as far-fetched as it sounds. China has deployed ducks to eat locusts in the north-western Xinjiang region some 20 years ago with some success, according to *The Guardian*. "Ducks like to stay in a group so they are easier to manage than chickens," senior researcher with the Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences told Chinese media, as [quoted by the *BBC*](). According to experts, a single duck can eat more than 200 locusts a day. **READ MORE:** [China will not send ducks to tackle locusts in Pakistan, says expert]() \[*The Guardian*\] **More on pests:** *[How Satellites Are Warning African Farmers About Pest Invasions]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()