Dr. Frank Fish, a biology professor at West Chester University, was among the winners of the Ig Nobel Prize awards for his research about ducklings, writes Mark Pratt for Boston.com.

The Ig Nobel Prize is a satirical award meant to recognize unusual or trivial discoveries in science that make people laugh and also learn something new. Created by Marc Abrahams in 1991, editor and co-founder of Annals of Improbable Research magazine, ten prizes are awarded each year, and this WCU professor earned one of them.

Fish shared the physics Ig Nobel with researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland for their duckling research. He was trying to find why ducklings follow behind their mothers in a single-file line.

He found that it has to do with energy conservation. The ducklings are drafting, like stock cars, cyclists, and runners do in a race.

“Science is fun. My sort of a tagline is you’re not doing science if you’re not having fun,” said Fish.

Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Strathclyde discovered that the ducklings surfed in their mother’s wake.

Read more about the other wacky discoveries at Boston.com.