10 Facts About Rubber Ducks

Rubber ducks have long been a bathtub companion for children. During the pandemic, they became extremely popular with Jeep owners as a way to spread cheer, and this tradition quickly spread across Canada and the United States. But rubber ducks have also played a part in science, as you'll see below.

Here are 10 facts about rubber ducks:

1. Rubber ducks were first patented in 1947 by Peter Ganine.1, 2
2. Ernie from Sesame Street popularized rubber ducks with the song "Rubber Duckie," which reached number 16 on Billboard's "Hot 100 Singles" chart in 1970. Little Richard would eventually be a guest on Sesame Stree in 1994 and performed the "Rubber Duckie" song. 3, 4
3. In 1992, a shipping container spilled 28,800 rubber ducks into the North Pacific Ocean, which helped scientists study ocean currents.5
4. The world's largest rubber duck, "Mama Duck," is over six stories tall and is available to bring to your city.6
5. Rubber duck race fundraisers are widespread across the country, where thousands of ducks are released into rivers for charity.7
6. The world record for the largest rubber duck collection belongs to Charlotte Lee, with over 5,631 ducks when she acquired the record in 2013.8 It's now said that she has almost 10,000 rubber ducks as of the end of 2024.9
7. Rubber ducks have been used to monitor melting glaciers.10, 11
8. The phrase "rubber duck debugging" refers to a method where programmers talk to a rubber duck to debug code.12
9. Giant inflatable rubber ducks were used in political protests in Thailand for protection against water canons.13
10. ​Some luxury brands have released gold-plated and Swarovski crystal-encrusted rubber ducks.14, 15​​

Seeing the popularity of rubber ducks worldwide shows you why custom rubber ducks with your logo printed on them can be great marketing pieces. Check out our vast selection of industry-themed rubber ducks that can be printed with your logo!

References:

1. "Design foe a toy duck." Google Patents.
2. "Story of the Rubber Duck." St Neots Museum.
3. "Rubber Duckie (song)." Muppet Wiki.
4. "Little Richard." Muppet Wiki.
5. "'Moby-Duck': When 28,800 Bath Toys Are Lost At Sea." npr.
6. "Worlds Largest Rubber Duck." Big Duck LLC.
7. "Rubber Duck Races." GAME.
8. "Rubber duck collector waddles her way into the record books." Guinness World Records Limited.
9. "Did You Know … Rubber Ducks Could Break Records?" Medium.
10. "Missing: Arctic Rubber Duckies." Smithsonian Magazine.
11. "Rubber duckies to the rescue in glacier research." NBC News.
12. "Rubber Duck Debugging." https://rubberduckdebugging.com/.
13. "Thai protesters use inflatable ducks against water cannons." Reuters.
14. Swarovski Ducks. Swarovski.
15. "Blined-Out Tub Toys." Trendhunter.