What the duck! From talking ducks to Bitche town, check out some of 2021's weird news

Did you know that ducks are quacking good impersonators? (Image credit: Reuters)

Here is our selection:

Quacking mimics - Science was rocked in September by the news that ducks can talk — and they are quacking good impersonators.

Biologists said they can parrot human speech and even imitate the sound of a door closing.

A final leak - There was only so long US Secret Service agents guarding Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner could hold on...

Donald Trump's seemingly favorite child and her millionaire partner refused to let agents use any of the "6.5 bathrooms" in their Washington mansion, it was revealed days before her father left the White House in January.

Instead, they had to use the toilet at Barack and Michelle Obama's nearby home.

Dog's life - A woman in Quebec stopped by police walking a man on a leash during a coronavirus curfew insisted "she was walking her dog," which was permitted under the rules.

Childbirth is no excuse - South Korean officials issued a reminder to pregnant women to have enough pressed shirts, socks, and underpants, and frozen meals ready for their husbands when they are away in the hospital giving birth.

Life's a Bitche - The French town of Bitche had its Facebook page taken down after the US tech giant thought its name was an insult.

Four weddings - A Taiwanese bank clerk married four times in a month so he could max out the country's statutory eight days of paid holidays for newlyweds.

Hard to swallow - Kosovo surgeon Skender Telaku removed a mobile phone from the stomach of a prisoner without cutting him open after he swallowed it to hide it from prison guards.

Luckily the phone did not ring during the delicate procedure.

Disappearing art - A Danish artist given $84,000 to make artworks out of banknotes pocketed the cash and sent the gallery two blank canvases entitled, "Take the Money and Run."

Lock me up, please - A man under house arrest in Italy on drug offenses pleaded with police to lock him up because he couldn't bear being stuck at home with his wife.

Police made the 30-year-old Albanian's day by jailing him.

Dog and bone - Scientists in Scotland have invented the DogPhone, which will allow bored Beagles or yappy Yorkies to call their owners for a chat anytime they feel the need. Never fear, the owners can always put them on paws.