Chicken little duck friend
10 Things You Didn't Know About Abby Mallard, The Duck
The story of Chicken Little, Walt Disney Animation’s first fully computer-animated venture, is about a pint-sized rooster high-schooler and his motley crew of animal misfits who must save their town from an alien invasion. One of the main characters is Abby Mallard, Chicken Little’s reliable confidante and, later, love interest.
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Abby mostly acted as the voice of reason for Chicken Little and his friends and helped to resolve the former’s relationship with his father, Buck Cluck. That is just the tip of the iceberg for her endearing qualities that go beyond her “ugly duckling” looks.
Other Actresses Considered
Abby Mallard is voiced by comedienne Joan Cusack. However, she is not the only actress considered for the role. Other names who are called include Jodie Foster, Laura Dern, Sigourney Weaver, Geena Davis, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Helen Hunt, and, on as a joke, Madonna.
However, in the videogame version of the movie, Pamela Adlon lent her voice for Abby. To their credit, they made a fine job providing a voice for a high-schooler who is clearly the mature one in the group but is secretly crazy about Chicken Little.
Joan Cusack’s Second Voice Role
Chicken Little is not the only animated project where Cusack provided her voice. She is best known as the voice of Jessie the Cowgirl in the Toy Story franchise. Her endearing performance in Toy Story 2 actually won her an Annie Award for Female Voice Acting in a Feature Production.
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Her other notable voice roles include the evil witch Verushka in Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil, the Mission Control Elf in Arthur Christmas, the belligerent Mrs. Krum in Klaus, and the motion-capture of Milo’s loving mother in Mars Needs Moms.
Originally Conceived As Male
Not all animated movies are accomplished from the way they were first pitched.
Originally, the character was a straight-up male ugly duckling, with Sean Hayes reported to have been cast as the character. However, the character was soon rewritten as a female, though she retained her Ugly Duckling arc.
Abby was not the only character given the gender-flip treatment. Chicken Little was initially conceived as a female, with Holly Hunter brought in to provide the voice. However, after eight months, the decision was made to change Chicken Little's gender.
Speech Impediment
The character of Abby is implied to have a slight speech impediment, which, along with her asymmetrical face, granted her the nickname as “Ugly Duckling." She lent a slightly noticeable lisp in every exchange she has, but that did not deter her caring nature and cathartic observations about her classmates.
Her speech patterns seemingly reminded of other Disney characters like Donald Duck, Huey, Louie, and Dewey with the same mannerisms—this pattern will soon be relevant later.
But, much like Abby, their impediments did not stop them from standing out and rising to the occasion.
Chicken Little’s Only Female Ally
Throughout the movie, ever since the “sky is falling” incident wreaked havoc in his town, Chicken Little has been labeled as a nuisance by the citizens of Oakey Oaks, including his father. Thus, he sorely relies on his friends, most importantly his best friend, Abby.
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This makes Abby his only female ally until the end. Even though there are other female characters like the bully Foxy Loxy, her confidante Goosey Loosey, and the alien mother Tina, they never quite matched Chicken Little's unfortunately-featured pal.
Resemblance To Another Disney Character
Abby’s design and personality are almost exactly like those of Gosalyn Mallard of Darkwing Duck. First, on the physical side, they both have pigtails. Then, they wear a T-shirt with a similar purple hue.
Finally, they are both diminutive compared to the people around them.
But, character-wise, they almost bear resemblance since they both pose as a sarcastic personality. They are also tomboyish and confident in themselves, yet are caring and courageous. As if that weren't enough, Abby’s middle name is “Ducktail," a pun on Ducktales.
One of the Many Disney Ducks
More into character parallels, Abby is just one of the many duck characters that Disney had. In fact, there are more than 200 duck characters within the Disney animated pantheon, most of which came from the Ducktales and Darkwing Duck universe—and they are just as vibrant as Abby Mallard.
To name a few, several duck characters include the aforementioned Donald Duck, Gosalyn Mallard, Huey, Louie, Dewey, Scrooge McDuck, and many more. With this amount of duck characters, it would not be surprising if Abby was part of Clan McDuck.
Scrapped Direct-to-Video Sequel
It was initially planned that Chicken Little would have a direct-to-video sequel, entitled Chicken Little 2: The Ugly Duckling Story.
The proposed movie would revolve in Chicken Little finding himself in a love triangle between Abby and a new student named Raffaela, a French sheep.
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An arc for that movie would have Abby be compelled to go through a makeover to win over Chicken Little. There are even animation reels that helped to convince Disney to greenlight the film. However, DisneyToon Studios was closed before it could be produced—and that's probably a good thing.
A Friends Reference
Aside from Gosalyn, Abby has several parallels to, of all people, Rachel Green from Friends. In the movie, there is a recurring bit centering on Abby convincing Chicken Little to open up to his father and strive for closure with him. Helped by Abby, the two reconciled in the end.
The “closure” element is in reference to the Friends season two episode “The One Where Ross Finds Out” where an intoxicated Rachel is told by her date that she needs closure from Ross to move on.
Ross and Rachel eventually made up in the end.
Not A Mallard?
Finally, here is the important fact about Abby Mallard: she is not a mallard. Abby is implied to be a swan with a grayish plumage. For one fact, mallards have green plumage on their heads and long bills with a black stripe on the tips.
Unlike a mallard’s brown and white fluff, Abby has grayish-brown all throughout her body. Beyond the non-logic, it does make sense for her to be a swan to bring up a subtle parallel to the ballet Swan Lake, which centers on a black swan transforming into a white swan.
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Duck From Chicken Little Character and Things You Did Not Know
The character of the duck from Chicken Little can remind you of that cute little friend who tries to save you by crossing boundaries. Does he sound familiar? If not, browse through this article to learn about a duck from Chicken Little and other Chicken Little characters.
Produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, Chicken Little is an American animated film made in 2005. Before talking about a duck from Chicken Little, let’s have a look at the main storyline of Chicken Little.
Table of Contents
Plot
Chicken Little’s original name is Ace Cluck. He lived in the small quaint town of Oakey Oaks. One day he ran into his school and rang the bell to warn everybody, making them evacuate the school building. The whole town went panicky.
When the fire department head asked Chicken Little about what happened, the latter’s answer made him look like a fool.
According to him, a piece of sky that looked like a stop sign fell on his head; from there, he surmised the sky was falling.
However, his father figured that this piece of the sky should be nothing but an acorn that fell off the tree.
So, this entire incident made Chicken Little famous as someone who tends to destroy everything accidentally.
Now, his friend’s group is also like him.
Everyone in the town finds them weird, and here you will get introduced to duck from Chicken Little.
Abby Mallard is the Ugly Duckling, a Fish Out of Water who carries a helmet with water for breathing, and a cowardly pig named Master Runt of the Litter.
The duck from Chicken Little also encourages Ace to talk about this with his father. But, he wants to make his father proud, so he even joins the school basketball team. Here, he wins a game and is declared a hero.
After that, many events occur. He and his friends discover that piece of sky is neither sky nor an acorn.
It is a disguised UFO. Aliens from the UFO chase them, and the next morning, an invasion at Oakey Oaks starts. You might want to ask why did they suddenly invade the town?
While returning to the UFO, an orange alien was left behind. So, the invasion was to take him back. However, Chicken Little intervened and returned Orange alien to them.
The invasion was stopped, and the aliens apologized and returned.
Chicken Little was again hailed as the hero of the town.
Cast
The important Chicken Little characters are Chicken Little, Abby Mallard, Fish Out of Water, Runt of the Litter, Buck Cluck (father of Chicken Little), Foxy Loxy ( a fox), Goosey Loosey (a goose), Turkey Lurkey ( a turkey), Kirby, Melvin, Tina, Morkubine Porcupine, the coach, Mr. Woolensworth, Principal Fetchit, Alien Cop, Hollywood Chicken Little, and the Dog Announcer.
Things that you don’t know about Duck from Chicken Little
Now, let’s talk about this friend of Chicken Little that you might be familiar with, Abby Mallard. Here are a few things you might have missed about a duck from Chicken Little.
Supporting cast
Along with Joan Cusack, who finally played the character’s role, there were other actors who auditioned for the role. These names include Helen Hunt, Sara Jessica Parker, Jamie Lee Curtis, Geena Davis, Sigourney Weaver, Laura Dern, and Jodie Foster.
Second voice acting by Joan Cusack
Joan Cusack has also taken part in another film – Toy Story.
Cusack plays the role of Jessie the Cowgirl in this franchise. She even won an Annie Award in Female Voice Acting Category.
She also played the role of Verushka in Hoodwinked Too, Hood vs. Evil, Elf in Arthur Christmas, Mrs. Krum in Klaus, and the mother of Milo in Mars Needs Moms.
The duck was a male
Movies diverge from what they were in the original plot. So, primarily, Duck was imagined to be an ugly man character with Sean Hayes as the actor.
However, the writers rewrote it as a female character. Also, Chicken Little was imagined as a female. However, he underwent a gender flip.
Speech impairment
The name of ugly duckling came from their asymmetrical face and her inability to talk properly. Her speech pattern resembled that of Dewey, Louie, Huey, and Donald Duck. However, none of these characters appealed less due to these characteristic features.
The only female partner in crime
Chicken Little became a laughingstock after the sky is falling scene.
However, the duck from Chicken Little stood by him throughout, thus making her the female best friend of Chicken Little. The other female characters were Tina, Goodey Loosey, and Foxy Loxy. None of them were compatible with Chicken Little.
Can remind you of another Disney Character
Gosalyn Mallard from Darkwing Duck has similarities with the duck character from Chicken Little. Both of them have pigtails and wear purplish T-Shirts. Both of them have sarcastic personalities. Moreover, they are courageous, caring, confident, and tomboyish.
Other Duck Characters
Disney is famous for its duck characters and can boast 200 such characters. So, she is another duck character in this vast corpus.
Sequel
The makers initially planned a sequel for the movie, which would involve a romantic feeling between Chicken Little, Abby, and Raffaela, a new character of a French sheep.
In this film, Abby would have to do a makeover to win Chicken Little’s heart. Many animation reels tried to convince Disney to support the film.
However, it never saw the light of day.
Friends
Abby is more than her duck counterparts. She even has similarities with Rachel from Friends. Here, Abby helped in the reconciliation of Chicken Little ad his father.
A mallard or not a mallard?
Even though the duck from Chicken Little has the na,e Abby Mallard, she is not a mallard. She is a swan with greyish plumage, while mallards have green-colored plumage.
Final Thoughts
Thus, if you are a fan of the duck from Chicken Little, you will love these details about her. So, watch the film if you haven’t yet done that!
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The whole truth about chickens: they are not stupid at all
- Colin Barras
- BBC Earth
Image copyright Ernie Janes/naturepl.com
Despite a reputation for being hopelessly dumb, chickens are remarkably intelligent and empathetic, BBC Earth columnist found.
reputation: to Uritsa is a stupid bird, a walking meat factory and tasty eggs.
In fact: e the most common bird in the world is intelligent and perhaps even able to respond to the condition of its fellows, which raises a number of ethical questions for the poultry industry.
The situation with chickens is somewhat unusual.
There are over 19 billion chickens on Earth, making them one of the most common vertebrate species on our planet.
Photo copyright, Klein & Hubert/naturepl.com
Photo caption,Does it take a lot of intelligence to peck grain?
However, most people rarely see them or do not see them at all - at least in living form.
This leads to rather strange ideas about chickens.
According to some studies, people often do not even classify them as ordinary birds.
However, they are typical members of the order Galliformes, which includes bird species such as turkey, partridge and pheasant.
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In addition, chickens are often thought of as stupid animals that do not have the complex psyche of "higher" species, such as monkeys or great primates.
This attitude, promoted by the typical depiction of chickens in popular culture, may help people to eat eggs and meat from factory-farmed chickens without much worries.
But chickens aren't really stupid at all.
They can count, have some degree of self-awareness, and even manipulate each other in ways that Machiavelli would not neglect.
In fact, they have such a high intelligence that even a short acquaintance with these birds can break the ingrained stereotypes.
As part of a study published in 2015, Lisel O'Dwyer and Susan Hazel conducted practical exercises with graduates from the University of Adelaide in Australia. While studying psychology and perceptual processes, students conducted experiments that included training chickens.
Before the start of classes, the students answered the questionnaire. Most of them admitted that they had little to do with chickens and perceive them as primitive creatures, incapable of feeling bored, disappointed or joyful.
Just a two-hour training session was enough for the students to be very likely to recognize that chickens can feel all three of these emotions.
"Chickens are much smarter than I thought before," one of the students wrote in the comments to the final questionnaire.
Another student added: "I never suspected that chickens are quite smart and learn fast enough."
Photo credit, Tony Heald/naturepl.com
Photo captionMale jungle hen (Gallus gallus), the closest wild relative of the domestic chicken got the same results.
"We took two completely different social groups and found that they had the same initial attitudes and their same change," she explains.
Now she intends to study whether such an experience will influence people to change their eating habits - for example, whether they will switch to more ethically sourced chicken.
Along with many other contributions, O'Dwyer's research was included in a scientific review on chicken perception by Laurie Marino of the Kimmel Animal Welfare Center in Kanab, Utah, and published in January 2017.
"This document is part of a collaborative project called Someone organized by the Animal Refuge Network and the Kimmela Center," says Marino. ".
According to Marino, the scientific evidence clearly confirms that chickens are not nearly as clueless and stupid as many people think.
Photo copyright, Ernie Janes/naturepl.com
Photo caption,Chickens have amazing skills
A series of studies published over the past decade by Rosa Rugani and her colleagues at the University of Padua (Italy) can be cited as an example.
Based on experiments with newly hatched chickens, the researchers found that chickens can count and even perform basic arithmetic.
Since birth, the chicks have had five objects near them - plastic containers from Kinder Surprise.
A few days later, the scientists took these containers and, in front of the chickens, placed three of them behind one screen and two behind the other.
The chickens approached the screen more often, behind which more objects were hidden.
An experiment was then conducted to test the chicks' ability to memorize, add and subtract.
Having hidden the objects behind two screens, the scientists started moving them from one screen to another in front of the chickens.
The chickens probably kept track of the number of items behind each screen and still approached the screen with more containers more often.
From an early age, chicks show good math skills even with little training, says Rugani.
Photo author, Pete Cairns/naturepl.com
Photo caption,This hen doesn't have a "chicken" mind at all
She believes that not only chickens, but also higher animals in general, can have such abilities.
"Skills like these help animals in nature, for example, to get more food or find a larger group of animals to join," says the scientist.
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Chickens are also to some extent able to "mentally travel through time", that is, to imagine what will happen in the future in order to eventually get more food.
Such conclusions are contained in a study dated 2005 by Shevon Abisingh, then working at the University of Bristol (UK).
In Abaysingh's experiment, hens could peck one of the buttons to gain short access to food after a two-second delay, or the second, which opened the feeder for a longer time, but after six seconds.
The birds pecked at the second button much more frequently, choosing more food after a longer wait.
In other words, they exhibited willpower, a quality that some biologists believe indicates some degree of self-awareness.
In addition, chickens have a complex system of social relations.
Photo copyright, Ernie Janes/naturepl.com
Photo caption,Chickens have a complex social life
According to some research, birds can understand how their fellow birds see the world and apply this knowledge to their advantage.
If a rooster finds a particularly tasty morsel in search of food, he will usually "dance" and make a distinctive call for food, trying to impress the surrounding hens.
However, if subordinate males behave in the same way, the dominant rooster may notice this and attack them.
Therefore, in the presence of a dominant cock, subordinate individuals usually "dance" silently in order to both impress the females and not attract the attention of the dominant male.
At the same time, some males try to attract females by deceit and make sounds characteristic of calling for food, even if they cannot boast of tasty finds.
Not surprisingly, hens are quick to bite roosters who use this trick too often.
Some evidence even suggests that chickens may experience a rudimentary form of empathy for their fellows.
Photo credit, Klein & Hubert/naturepl.com
Photo captionChickens can be very social
In a series of experiments over the past six years, Joanna Edgar of the University of Bristol blowing their chicks with air.
Previously, chickens were given the opportunity to experience first hand that this procedure caused slight discomfort.
When a stream of air was directed at the chickens, the heartbeat of the chickens increased and they called the chickens more often.
However, if the air was blown into an empty place next to the chickens without causing them discomfort, the chickens behaved as usual.
In an experiment published in 2013, chickens were able to distinguish by color a "dangerous" box that had bad airflow from a "safe" box that didn't.
At the same time, the hens were worried when the chicks were placed in a "dangerous" box, even if they were not actually blown with air and were unaware of the threat.
These results suggest that hens may be reacting to potential chick discomfort based on their own experience, and not simply on signs of dissatisfaction in the young.
Photo copyright, Ernie Janes/naturepl.com
Photo caption,Chickens are raised in many countries
According to Edgar, the experiments are not yet complete. "We have not yet determined whether the behavioral and physiological responses of hens to their chicks' slight discomfort are indicative of an emotional response or whether they are simply akin to excitement or interest," she says.
If it turns out that chickens are able to sympathize with their fellows in need, this will raise some serious questions about the methods that are used during the breeding of chickens on industrial farms.
"On farms, all animals often see, hear and smell other animals when they are in pain and stress," says Edgar. "It is important to understand whether such situations have a negative impact on their well-being."
Marino also believes that the time has come to discuss this topic.
"Perception of chickens as clueless and stupid animals is partly due to the reluctance to recognize their intelligence and sensitivity, because people eat them," she says.
The inconvenient truth is that chickens understand a lot more than people think.
But will the consumers who find out about this agree to change their route through the meat department of the store?
Read the original of this article in English can be found at BBC Earth .
a chicken raised a duckling, and he considers her mother
A mother's love knows no bounds. A little duckling was born in a chicken family, and has never been a stranger.
Alla Rezyapova
Roxanne Desgagnes | Unsplash
Unlike the well-known fairy tale, this duckling, born to an ordinary domestic chicken, was never "ugly". The first life lesson he learned was that "there are no other people's children", because the mother hen raised him along with her own chickens. She never made a distinction between her own fluffy babies and the big yellow chick that hatched with them.
It all started with boredom during the pandemic. Courtney Sugarman and her husband Caleb were looking for a way to pass the time. Animal lovers decided to expand the farm by taking into the house six ducks and three hens of a rare "silk" breed. Chickens and ducks kept a respectful distance and did not interfere in each other's affairs. Suddenly, in mid-November, Courtney discovered that a chicken was hatching a duck egg!
"We naively thought nothing would happen."
The owners decided to leave the mother hen alone.
They didn't have the slightest idea where the hen could get that egg, but they were almost certain that nothing would happen. Shortly after the discovery, the hen herself laid seven eggs, and has already hatched eight. No one believed that she would manage, and the eggs would hatch.
In December, Caleb discovered that the first chicken egg gave new life. His wife moved the mother hen and eggs to a warm place - after all, it was very cold outside, and the babies could die. In a cozy environment, the eggs began to crack one after another. And after some time, the shell of the last egg burst with a crack, and a little duckling was born from it.
The baby immediately recognized the mother hen as a mother (this is called imprinting) and accepted her with all his heart. The hen didn't seem to notice the difference between yellow and white heirs. She treated them all in exactly the same way. But everyone else noticed the substitution, especially since the duck was already starting to grow at an unrealistic rate.
"He acts like he's just a big chicken."
He tries to get under his mother's wing, even if he doesn't fit in there! In the end, the mother hen was transferred back to the coop when she became too anxious. But that didn't change anything for the duckling and its chicken brothers and sisters. “The chicks are now snuggling up to the duck as she is now as big (maybe bigger) than the mother,” Sugarman said.
When a duckling grows up, do you think it will become aware of being a duck?
As soon as it gets warmer, the family will release the chicken brood outside. Sugarman really wants to sit in silence for a while, and is looking forward to the moment of separation. The girl is very interested in how ducks will behave when they see a brother in an unusual role, and how an important bird will behave when it meets its own kind. She is sure that the duck will prefer a foster family and will spend even more time with her.
“He doesn't like to swim like the others when they are young ducks.
