HEAD

A duck's head must be made of some indestructible material, because nothing seems to permanently damage it. Several times we have witnessed Donald falling from great heights and landing on his head, but usually he is able to walk away! Sometimes he even voluntarily bangs his head in an effort to calm himself down (small wonder!)!

Often we see the male ducks' hats fly up from their heads. It could be speculated that this is caused by an explosive swelling of the head due to a sudden rise in blood temperature that 'shoots' the hat off. Still, that does not explain that the hats also fly off when their owners get thoroughly surprised...

At least Donald has a very wide throat: In WDCS185 'New Year's Resolutions' he swallows a piece of banana cream pie twice the width of his neck! He performs the trick by massaging down the piece with his fingers from the outside of his neck...

HAIR

First of all: Hair growing on a feathered duck is an obvious contradiction in terms - but it certainly works on the few characters that actually grow hair!
And it is the females that lead the way: Grandma Duck was the first with her so-called beehive, and Barks followed suit by 'equipping' two of his own inventions with both fitting and appropriate hair, namely Glittering Goldie and Magica de Spell.
Hair on males is very rare: Flintheart Glomgold and John D. Rockerduck - both created by Barks - have scalp hair, and in a short sequence in WDCS158 'The Beekeeper Story' our Donald seems to have hair which he brushes and perfumes!

FACIAL HAIR

Scrooge has bushy whiskers, and Glomgold has a full beard. In both cases, though, it might be relevant to dispute the two statements, because Barks never drew the facial hair in such a detailed manner that we can distinguish if the hair is actually very fine feathers instead, but it is prudent to assume that he regarded the facial ornaments as some sort of hair.

EYES

It appears that a duck's eyes undergo a certain change as he grows up which is plain to see when you compare the nephews' eyes to Donald's; the youngsters eyes are situated well above the beak, while the adult's eyes touch the beak.

The ducks' eyes can look highly different depending on moods; normally they are fairly big, but when agitated they may become small and the irises even turn red. If Donald is down on his luck his pupils become empty, i.e. white surrounded by a thin black outline.

All of the ducks seem to have excellent eyesight with the exception of a few characters who wear glasses. Scrooge's dependence on these utilities became abundantly clear in U$21 The Money Well in which he was blind as a mole, because his old glasses had worn out(!). But when his glasses work no one of the other ducks can compete with Scrooge's eyesight; he can spot loose change a mile away!

Barks used a well-known technique that is not always noticed by the reader. When drawing his ducks' eyes he usually took out a pie-cut shape in the opposite direction of where they were looking. In that way the ducks' eyes would look more alive and shining and it was also easier to understand what they were looking at.

EARS

Of course the ducks have ears. We just don't see them. But there is a lot of evidence (apart from the obvious fact that they have perfect hearing!); several times they have forced water and smoke out, and one time even breakfast cereal!

In a few stories Barks actually showed outer ears on ducks. Prince Char Ming from U$64 Treasure of Marco Polo is an example.

MOUTH

BEAK: Many of the ducks' beaks changed length in proportion to the size of their heads several times - especially Donald's beak. Barks was not aware that he slowly changed the beak, until his attention was drawn to it by others. Then he adjusted the beak to mainly follow that of the animated shorts' Donald at the given time. Still, he always said that he liked the long beak the better.
The Disney ducks' beaks are very similar in appearance to those of real ducks, but they are considerably more versatile. Although they appear to be more stiff than rubbery the characters' beaks have a clear plasticity when needed; they can be rounded in a kissing attitude, and they can wrinkle in a snearing mode.
When Donald is very surprised, enraged or commanding, Barks would sometimes place his beak at an impossible angle where Donald's lower beak seems to be far to the left of his neck.

TEETH: We know that all the ducks have a full set of teeth inside their beaks, because we have seen them gritting their teeth on numerous occasions. Still, they are very well hidden and not visible when they open their mouths. Quite a feat, really...

TONGUE: The ducks' tongues are highly metamorphic; sometimes they are short, sometimes they are long, and they change from being oval to being triangular in shape. Furthermore, Donald's tongue has an astounding ability; he is able to let his tongue hang out of his beak through clenched teeth!