News  Animal athletes go for gold medals

Gold medal in diving: Long-tailed ducks 

You may say some swimmers live in the water, but these seaducks actually do. When it comes to diving, long-tailed ducks would be the favorite to take home the gold due to their impressive dives of up to 200 feet! These black and white ducks reach the ocean floor to feed on marine crustaceans, mussels, and small fish during their winters on the ocean. To add some style points to their score, long-tailed ducks flap their wings underwater rather than use their feet.    

Gold medal in long distance swimming: American eels

American eels may not fit the athlete stereotype, but these slender fish can really go the distance. These eels hatch in the middle of the ocean in a large area called the Sargasso Sea. They are carried around by ocean currents until they reach coastlines throughout the North Atlantic, including traveling 400–2,000 miles to the coast of Massachusetts. From there, they swim upstream and primarily live in rivers and estuaries for most of their lives. When it is time to spawn, these amazing eels will head back to the ocean and swim over 1,000 miles back to the Sargasso Sea to spawn and die.  

Gold medal in long jump: Bullfrogs 

Bullfrogs may be iconic for their loud and recognizable call, but their undeniable athleticism is on full display when they use their strong back legs to leap into the air. Even though they average 3.5–6 inches long, these fierce competitors have been recorded jumping over 50 inches! Even if they happened to lose out on gold in the long jump, they may have a chance in the Olympic sport of wrestling. Male bullfrogs are known to be incredibly territorial and will aggressively fight off intruders.  

Gold medal in weightlifting: Ants 

You may be expecting something big and burly to win the gold in weightlifting, but ants shouldn’t be underestimated in this event. Although they are small in size, ants can carry up to twenty times their bodyweight. Ants have strong jaws to grasp objects to carry and they use their very strong neck muscles to lift objects into the air. To put it in human terms, this would be like a human lifting a 4,000 lb. car with their mouths, lifting it over their heads, and putting it on their back.  

Gold medal in breaking: Short-tailed weasels

New to the Olympics this year, “breaking” better known as “breakdancing,” is a fun sport to watch. For wildlife, the short-tailed weasel would undeniably be at the top of the podium. When other tactics don’t work when they are trying to catch rabbits, these weasels have been seen performing a dance where they hop and twist to disorient them. As they are being mesmerized, the weasels will get closer and closer to the rabbit until they can pounce.   

Special mention – gold medal in golf: Canada geese 

Not due to any particular skill, but mostly just to time spent on the course, our biologists would award the gold medal in golf to Canada geese.