Oldest duck set for a slow waddle into record books
ITS eyes are so clouded with cataracts that it can barely see, while its legs are stiff with arthritis.
Yet Ernie the duck, who relies heavily on his friend Elmo to guide it around the garden, could soon be entering the record books.
The 21-year-old call duck is thought to be the oldest domestic duck in the UK, having outlived the previous record holder by nine months, and could take the title of the world’s oldest duck after Guinness World Records opened a new title in its honour yesterday.
Chloe Timberlake, 31, was given Ernie for her 10th birthday and has lovingly cared for it ever since, ensuring that it has lived more than twice as long as the average for its breed.
But Ms Timberlake, an environmental scientist from Princes Risborough, Bucks, says Ernie the duck might not have done so well without the aid of its sidekicks. “He’s remarkable, certainly very unusual. He’s done very well,” she said.
Gina Timberlake, 58, explains that as a child her daughter had “hankered after ducks”, and so she was given two one-day-old ducklings, whom she named Bert and Ernie.
They were hand reared indoors for eight weeks until they were fully feathered and ready to go outside, where a new pond awaited them.
Bert died 10 years ago, leaving Ernie bereft. So the Timberlakes bought Elmo, then two years old, and the pair became inseparable.
Indeed, as Ernie’s sight deteriorated because of cataracts, it has become increasingly reliant on
Elmo, which is white and therefore just about visible, to guide it around.
Ms Timberlake said: “He’ll call for him if he goes out of his range and Elmo goes straight to him. They sleep together at night and are firm friends.”
The family sent off an application form to Guinness World Records to ensure that Ernie’s name will go down in history. The current oldest duck to have lived in the UK is a female mallard called Desi from Maidenhead, which lived to be 20 years, three months and 16 days old before dying in August 2002. But since that title was bestowed, Guinness World Records has stopped monitoring UK records.
To verify that Ernie can take the title of the oldest living duck, Guinness World Records will require a vet’s statement and photos or video of the duck through the years, as well as details of size, breed and age. There also have to be independent witness statements testifying to its age.
An eider, a kind of sea duck, that lived 35 years, 6 months and 26 days, is the oldest duck the British Trust for Ornithology has on record. It was an adult when ringed in 1958 on the Ythan Estuary, Aberdeenshire, and was found dead in the same place in 1994.
‘He’s remarkable, certainly very unusual. He’s done very well’