Mallard

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Birds

iMallard
Male Mallard Duck in midflight
Conservation status
Least Concern (LC)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Anseriformes Family: Anatidae Genus: Anas Species: A. platyrhynchos
Binomial name
Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758
Subspecies
See Mexican Duck, Anas, and article text

The Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos; Greek for "flat-billed duck"), also known in North America as the Wild Duck, is a common and widespread dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and sub-tropical areas of North America, Europe and Asia. It also frequents Central America and the Caribbean, and has been introduced into Australia and New Zealand. It is now the most common duck in New Zealand. It is probably the best-known of all ducks.

This dabbling duck is 56–65 cm length, with an 81–98 cm wingspan, and weighs 750–1000 g. It is strongly migratory in the northern parts of its breeding range, and winters farther south. It is highly gregarious outside of the breeding season and will form large flocks. They are exceptionally fast flyers for their size, reaching speeds of 65 km/h (40 mph).

The breeding male is unmistakable, with a green head, black rear end and a blue speculum edged with white, obvious in flight or at rest. Males also possess a yellow bill with a black tip, whereas females have a dark brown bill.

The female Mallard is light brown, with plumage much like most female dabbling ducks. It can be distinguished from other ducks by the distinctive speculum. In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage, the drake looks more like the female.

It is a bird of most wetlands, including parks, small ponds and rivers, and usually feeds by dabbling for plant food or grazing; there are reports of it eating frogs. It nests usually on a river bank, but not always particularly near water.

This is a noisy species. The male has a nasal call, whereas the female has the very familiar " quack" always associated with ducks.

Mallards frequently interbreed with the American Black Duck, Northern Pintail and domesticated species, leading to various hybrids. A Mallard has been recorded as living for 29 years.

The Mallard is one of the rare examples of both Allen's Rule and Bergmann's Rule in birds. Bergmann's Rule, which states that polar forms tend to be larger than related ones from warmer climates, has numerous examples in birds. Allen's Rule is that appendages like ears tend to be smaller in polar forms, to minimize heat loss, and larger in tropical and desert equivalents to facilitate heat diffusion, and that the polar taxa are stockier overall. Examples of this rule in birds are rare, as they lack ears. However, the bill of ducks is very well supplied with blood vessels and is vulnerable to cold.

The size of the Mallard varies clinally, and birds from Greenland, although larger than birds further south, have smaller bills and are stockier. It is sometimes separated as subspecies Greenland Mallard (A. p. conboschas).

The Mallard is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds ( AEWA) applies.

Mallards are the parent stock of most domestic ducks, apart from the Muscovy Duck. In captivity, Mallards come in wild-type plumages as well as white and other colours. Although most of these colour variants are rare, there is a steady increase in the number of domestic collections containing these forms.

As a game bird

Mallards are hunted and eaten as game. The flesh has a stonger flavour than that of the more commonly eaten domestic ducks.

Photo gallery

Drake	Drake	Mallards in an urban environment.	Adult drake in full plumage
Adult drake in full plumage	Drake	Female	Drake
Female with ducklings	Ducklings	Drake	Female
Female with young ducklings	Mother with older ducklings	Female walking on grass	Female mallard