Indian runner ducks have been used in Asia for thousands of years to control pests. Now they’re used in a South African vineyard to eat snails that damage the vines. Sarah Birnbaum for NPR

We are pleased to know that birds from India have such enormous value in places outside India:

For This Vineyard, It’s Duck, Duck, Booze

On Vergenoegd Wine Estate in Stellenbosch, South Africa, about a thousand Indian runner ducks parade twice a day into a vineyard to rid it of pests. It’s a remarkably orderly scene.

Unlike your typical waddling duck, these ducks don’t sway back and forth. They run quickly in a straight line.

Every morning at 9:45 a.m., they emerge from a gate and zip around the gleaming white manor house – even sticking to a manicured gravel path. They run in formation. Their beaks all point in the same direction, their bodies all turn at the same time — like they’ve worked on the choreography beforehand.

The previous owner of the wine estate, John Faure, is a bird lover and brought them over from Asia. They have been at the estate for at least 30 years.

The history of the breed goes back much further. According to the Livestock Conservancy, runner ducks have been used in Asia for thousands of years to glean snails and insects from rice paddies.

The Vergenoegd ducks have a similar job. They eat the snails and insects in the vineyard…

Read the whole article here.