Ducks on the hotel red carpet

In the American city of Memphis, there's a hotel called The Peabody Memphis, where a man with the unusual job title of "Duckmaster" works. He escorts the hotel's resident ducks to the fountain.

Twice a day, he dons a red and gold uniform, takes the elevator to the roof, and leads five ducks down to the lobby. They march along a red carpet to the marble fountain in front of guests, and then swim there.

This tradition began in 1933, when the hotel manager, rather drunk, returned from hunting and, as a joke, released his decoy ducks into the fountain in the lobby. Guests loved it. A few years later, a former circus animal trainer, who worked as a porter at the hotel, volunteered to look after the ducks and taught them to march. The hotel bestowed upon him the title of "Duckmaster," a position he held for 50 years.

Several generations of ducks have followed since then. They now live on the roof in a marble "palace" that cost the hotel approximately $200,000 to build.