Duck short description for children. Poultry: ducks. What does a duck eat?

The mallard is probably the most famous and numerous of all duck species. Today it can be found in almost any city body of water, both in summer and winter. The mallard is the largest of all wild ducks. The duck is omnivorous and easily adapts to the most different conditions life, which is why it is found on all continents except Antarctica. Let's get to know them better.

A little biology

Mallard (lat. Anas platyrhynchos) is a bird from the duck family (Anatidae) of the order Anseriformes. The most famous and widespread wild duck. The male's body length is about 62 cm, the female's is about 57 cm, the weight reaches 1-1.5 kg (in the fall, when the bird fattens up before the flight, its weight can reach 2 kg). The head and neck of the male are green, the crop and chest are brownish-brown, the back and ventral side of the body are gray with thin transverse spots. The color of the female is brown with darker spots, the ventral side is brownish-gray with longitudinal streaks. On the wing of the male and female there is a blue-violet “mirror” (clearly visible in the photo below).

The mallard, like most other duck species, has well-defined sexual dimorphism in its plumage ( external differences between males and females), especially noticeable in winter and spring, when ducks form pairs. In the mating season, the drake of the nominate subspecies has a shiny dark green head and neck ending in a narrow white “collar” (the collar has a gap in the back of the neck), a brownish-gray back with small dark streaks, in the back it becomes darker, black-brown color, black rump, chocolate brown chest and grayish belly with a transverse streaky pattern. The wings are brownish-gray above with a bright blue-violet mirror with white edges, and almost white below. The size of the mirror increases with the age of the bird. The tail has a black curl formed by the middle tail feathers. The remaining tail feathers are straight and light gray in color. In the summer, after molting, the male becomes more similar to the female, losing contrast and instead acquiring protective black-brown tones. During this period, it can be distinguished from a duck by its chestnut (but not ocher) breast and yellow beak. The legs are orange-red with darker webs.

An adult female retains a single plumage pattern regardless of the time of year. Outwardly, she is not much different from the females of many other river ducks - they are all united by a motley combination of black, brown and red tones in the upper part of the body. The underparts, undertail and uppertail are buffy or reddish-brown, with vague dark brown spots. The chest has an ocher, straw color. Features- the same as the male’s, a shiny mirror on the wing, a dark stripe across the eye and the same light one above it. The legs are paler in comparison with the male - dirty or pale orange. Young birds, regardless of gender, are more similar to the female, differing from her in duller plumage and less spotting below.

Ducks in autumn, the differences between females and males are clearly visible

Ducks' feet never freeze; there are no nerves or blood vessels there, so ducks can easily walk on snow and ice without feeling the cold.
- The average lifespan of this species is about 25 years. The bird's voice is no different from domestic breeds, since it is their distant ancestor.
- Mallards feed mainly on vegetation in their natural habitat. However, they also readily feast on freshwater mollusks, toads, insects and fish eggs. At night, birds go out into the fields, where they eat plant food and grain.
- Birds feed by diving in a peculiar way. Only the front part of the duck is immersed in the water, while the tail and paws stick out above the surface.

A special delicacy for ducks is duckweed, which appears on stagnant ponds.
- The duck applies and distributes a special fatty lubricant throughout its body, which is secreted by the coccygeal gland. Very warm fluff and subcutaneous fat do not allow cold to penetrate the duck's body.
- A duck makes a nest in thickets of reeds, reeds, among dead wood, in a hole dug in the ground - as long as it is safe. The duck plucks the fluff on its chest and insulates the nest.

Eggs are laid from mid-April to mid-May. The female lays one egg per day, usually in the evening. Incubation begins with the last egg, when the first ones laid have a clearly visible germinal disc. The clutch size differs in different parts of the range; in the south the number of eggs is slightly higher. The eggs are of a standard shape, with a white shell with a greenish-olive tint. During incubation, the shade usually disappears. Incubation time is 22-29 days. All chicks hatch almost simultaneously - for no more than 10, less often - 14 hours. The last eggs laid go through their development cycle in a shorter time than the previous ones.
- 12 hours after hatching, the chicks can swim, since the female has already treated their down with fat, which protects it from getting wet. After this, the young can begin to feed in the pond, into which they follow the mother.

The duck reliably protects its offspring and takes good care of it. In 30 days, ducklings gain weight of 1 kg. 2 months after hatching, the young do not need care and begin to live independently.
- Ducks (like geese) have a very unusual genital structure. The penis of males is spiral-shaped and can reach the length of the male’s entire body. The shape of the ovaries in females is also similar. Interestingly, the more complex the drake’s phallus, the more sophisticated it is.
- During molting, ducks lose almost all their flight feathers and are practically unable to fly.
- Adapting to specific conditions, mallards can spend their entire lives in one place, or they can, like their relatives in the Anseriformes order, make seasonal migrations.
- The Greeks began domesticating mallard ducks back in the 5th century BC. e., and the Chinese - even earlier, and they made a kind of incubators out of baskets. Wild mallards are now easily domesticated, and can also produce common offspring with any domestic ducks.

Quack-quack - this is exactly how duck speech sounds, at least, every Russian has been sure of this since childhood. However, it turns out that the British hear onk-onk, the Hungarians hear dudal-dudal; (it looks like the Swedes - tut-tut), the Turks - wak-wak, the Chinese tu-doo, the French - kuzn-kuen, the Romanians - mak-mak. Well, according to ornithologists, ducks pronounce rab-rab-rab (in this case, the Danes have the most sensitive hearing: they hear rab-rab-rab).
- Ducklings consider their mother to be the first creature they see after hatching from the egg. Therefore, at home, small ducklings can be given to a chicken to raise.
- Ducks have more neck vertebrae than giraffes, they are just very small and therefore the neck appears short.

The mallard flies well - its flight speed reaches 90 km/h. Sits on the water under acute angle. This allows her to land even on a small island. It also doesn’t require much space to take off and can rise almost vertically.
- A duck's beak has a tactile ability. Its upper part is covered with soft leather. Thanks to this, she looks for food under water. But along with food it swallows silt, dirt and large amounts of water. Therefore, inside the beak has many horny processes that work like a sieve. The duck pushes all the excess back out with its tongue.
- Everyone knows that under certain conditions any sound is reflected. This is due to the laws of physics. But duck quacks are not subject to these laws. Wherever this bird quacks, you will not hear an echo.

Few people know that only females are capable of quack. In this way they call male representatives during mating and communicate with ducklings. It would be incorrect to say that males, called drakes, cannot quack. They make certain sounds, and sometimes quite loud ones, which differ from the quack of females: they are more like a hiss.
- Another feature concerning the structure of birds, which almost no one knows about, despite the fact that everyone has seen a duck at least once in their life. This bird has 3 eyelids, each of which performs a specific function.
- There is an interesting one historical fact touching ducks. In 1916, there was a conflict between Ireland and Great Britain, which caused military action on the territory of these countries. They did not bypass Dublin, which was home to a large number of wild ducks. Their main location was the central park. At a certain time, all hostilities ceased, and the park worker was busy feeding the birds.

English mallards lay more eggs than their counterparts living in other countries. This is probably the result of their spontaneous crossing with an improved breed of domestic duck.
- It is believed that the blue mirror on the wing with a metallic tint helps ducks recognize each other in flight.
- These ducks have a special curled feather on their tail. In some cases, 2 or 3 elements have this form at once. Is not decorative decoration and such a structure is not accidental. These feathers are different original form, always have a black color. They clearly stand out against the background of other flight feathers, which are distinguished by their white color. They are directly involved in the maneuvers that birds perform while moving in the air and water.

Sometimes females choose the drake themselves. In this case, she swims around the gentleman and nods her head. In any case, the pair is removed from the general flock. After which mating occurs.
- Duck test (English: duck-test, sometimes duck test) - a humorous test for the obviousness of what is happening. Translated from English it looks like: If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. The test implies that the essence of the phenomenon can be identified by typical external signs. The expression is a translation from English and is common only in the USA and Great Britain.
- “One scientist, having bought 20 ducks, immediately ordered one of them to be cut into small pieces, which he fed to the rest of the birds. A few minutes later he did the same with another duck, and so on, until one remained, which thus devoured 19 of its friends.” This note was published in the newspaper by the Belgian humorist Cornelissen to mock the gullibility of the public. Since then, according to one version, false news has been called “newspaper ducks.”
- “Make Way for the Ducklings” is a wonderful fairy tale written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey in 1941. The book was an unprecedented success. The Boston authorities even erected a monument to the heroes of the fairy tale in Central Park - the mother duck Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings.

The mallard dives only when wounded and is capable of swimming tens of meters underwater. She waddles along the ground, but when wounded she is able to run nimbly.
- When protecting her brood, the female tends to pretend to be wounded in order to ward off uninvited guests.
- The mallard marked with a ring in 1981 was caught by hunters in 2008, that is, it lived for 27 years. However average duration According to banding data, the life of a mallard is 3-5 years and about 10 years in captivity.
- Mallards do not fly above 3,000 meters, but in 1962 there was a collision between an airplane and a mallard at an altitude of 7,000 meters.
- Mallards have the largest range and highest abundance of any duck species. There are approximately 11.6 million birds in the United States alone. In Europe, the total mallard population is estimated at 9.2 million adult birds.
- Mallards molt twice a year. The first molt, the so-called postnuptial moult, is complete, during which mallards lose the ability to fly for some time due to the loss of flight feathers. The second molt, the so-called prenuptial molt, is incomplete. During molting, mallards sometimes gather in large groups in well-protected reservoirs abundantly overgrown with aquatic vegetation.
- Double Olympic champion single rowing Bobby Pierce from Australia his first gold medal won in Amsterdam in 1928. In the quarterfinal race, he was far ahead of his opponent, when he suddenly noticed a duck with ducklings blocking his path. He decided to stop and let them pass, and at this time the enemy outflanked him by five corps. However, Pierce managed to win both this race and all subsequent ones.
- British scientists have found that ducks love rain. It took scientists three years and 300 thousand pounds to discover what every villager knows.

Mallard duck has very tasty and nutritious meat. In addition, by autumn they gain decent weight, which is an additional incentive for hunters. Mallard hunting is quite an interesting activity.

And one more creepy fact

A male duck may also occasionally engage in necrophilia. Well, at least one such case was recorded. It would not be fair to blame all male ducks for this, but Kees Moeliker, in his seminal document: "First case of homosexual necrophilia among mallards Anas platyrhynchos (Family: Anatidae)" writes about it:
“Next to the apparently dead duck was another male mallard (in adult plumage without any visible signs of molting). He forcibly climbed onto his back, grabbing at the base of the back of the head of a dead mallard, and then for about two minutes continuously shook her head from side to side, after which he began to copulate with a corpse with great strength. Most likely he was satisfied, I watched this scene from a close distance from the window until 19.10, during which time (75 minutes!) I took several photographs of the mallard almost continuously copulating with its dead relative. He only did this twice, stayed next to the dead duck and grabbed it by the neck and then proceeded to pounce again. The first break (at 18.29) lasted three minutes, and the second break (at 18.45) lasted less than a minute. At 19.12 I broke this cruel scene. The necrophilic mallard reluctantly left his “mate” when I approached him within five meters, he did not fly away, but simply walked away a few meters, faintly emitting a series of “quack-quacks.”

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Area: mallard distributed on almost all continents (Europe, Asia, South and North America, New Zealand, Australia, Africa), with the exception of Antarctica.

Description: The mallard is the largest of the ducks. The paws are short, the three front toes are webbed. Sexual dimorphism is pronounced. The beak is flat and wide.
The body is wide and long. The size of ducks varies depending on their range: in the south, the birds are stockier and have smaller beaks.

Color: breeding plumage of the male - the neck and head are black (with an intense green tint), the chest and craw are brown-chestnut, there is a white ring at the bottom of the neck, the beak is bright olive, the paws are orange or red. The back is gray with streaks.
The female is brown-red, the belly is gray-brown with streaks, the beak is gray or olive, with bright orange or yellow edges.
On the wings of both sexes there are purple specula with a white border. The tail is white, the undertail is black.
Young birds are reddish-brown with dark streaks, the beak is brownish, the paws are dirty yellow, the membranes between the toes are brown.
The chickens are brownish-yellow.

Size: mallard body length up to 62 cm, wingspan up to 100 cm, wing length in males 27-30 cm, in females 25-28.5 cm.

Weight: varies greatly depending on the season - 0.8-2 kg.

Lifespan: in captivity up to 25 years, in nature presumably up to 15 years.

Voice: the mallard is similar to the voice of a domestic duck, because they are her ancestor.
The drake croaks dully during the breeding season.
Anas_platyrhynchos - 65 Kb
Anas_platyrhynchos - 65 Kb

Habitat: Can be found in a wide variety of habitats that contain aquatic and riparian vegetation (ponds, wetlands, swamps, flooded areas, streams, farmland, coastlines, bays, urban parks and rivers).
Avoids mountain rivers and bare (along the banks) bodies of water. Can nest in fresh and brackish waters. Found up to 1800 above sea level.

Enemies: mallards and their chicks are hunted by birds of prey (hooded crow, goshawk, white-tailed eagle, marsh harrier, large gulls, falcons, eagles, magpies), as well as predators - foxes, raccoon dogs, wild cats, otters, minks, skunks, martens, reptiles (snakes,) and even large fish.

Social structure: The mallard is very social - outside the breeding season it forms quite large flocks.

Food: the basis of the diet is vegetation (seeds, leaves and stems of grasses, sedge, duckweed, hornwort, pondweed, bittergrass, cereals, rice leaf, arrowhead, barnyard grass), also eats insects (grasshoppers), mollusks, fish eggs, earthworms, frogs, tadpoles, snails and slugs (especially young birds).
For feeding, it prefers shallow water (no deeper than 35-40 cm), so that it can reach the bottom with its beak.
At dusk, mallards can be found in agricultural fields where rice, grain, oats, wheat, barley, millet, soybeans and buckwheat are grown.
During laying and incubation of chicks, the volume of food eaten by the female doubles (mainly due to live food).
During the molting period, most of the males' diet comes from plant shoots and seeds.
Birds that remain to winter in place feed on a variety of food (silt, parts of plants, small fish and rodents, amphibians).

Behavior: leads both a diurnal and nocturnal lifestyle (until August - feeds during the day, during the opening of the hunting season - at dusk). Resting in places sheltered from the wind. He behaves carefully.
When feeding, the mallard lowers its head into the water (while the rear part of the body rises up).
It flies well, takeoff is difficult and noisy. Flight speed 20-90 km/h. It can land on the water at a very acute angle, which allows birds to splash down on small water surfaces. Take-off at a slight angle (without a take-off run), can soar into the air almost vertically.
While flying with its wings, it makes the sounds “whip-whit-whit-whit”.
Adult ducks do not dive, but if the bird is injured, it can dive and swim underwater.
Molting occurs twice a year, summer (full) takes about two months, which is why birds cannot fly for 20-30 days.
Flight to warmer climes begins when shallow water freezes. Mallards fly away in small flocks. Arrival at nesting sites is quite early - during the period when the snow begins to melt.

Reproduction: Mating pairs form in the fall. The female spends the winter with the male. Monogamous.
The male and female choose a place for the nest and build it together. Usually the nest is located near water. The mallard's nest is a small hole in the ground (up to 28 cm in diameter), lined with dry vegetation.
During laying, the drake guards the female, but as soon as she sits down to hatch the eggs (7-12 white eggs with a greenish tint, weighing up to 55 g each), he flies away to molt. The female lays eggs every day, and incubation begins only after the completion of the entire clutch.
Leaving the nest, the female covers the eggs with down, which accumulates in the nest as she molts. If the first clutch dies (for example, from predators or fire), the female lays a second one, but with fewer eggs. Some females return to the nest after fires and continue to incubate the eggs if they remain intact.
Repeated clutches often contain unfertilized eggs.
During the incubation period, the female sits very tightly in the nest, even if a person comes close to it.

breeding season: depends on the range - from mid-April to August.

Puberty: in the first year of life.

Incubation time A: 26-28 days.

Offspring: chicks hatch from the eggs together (within several hours), and 12-16 hours after birth they go to water. Ducklings swim and dive well. At first, the chicks warm themselves and rest under the wings of their mother.
Broods stay near thickets of coastal vegetation. After feeding, the duck and ducklings go out onto land to clean themselves and sleep.
The young grow quickly, at 10 days the chicks weigh 100 g, and by two months as adult ducks they weigh 0.8-0.9 kg.
Chicks fledge at eight weeks and begin to fly at 50. Most of chicks die (25-50%). As soon as the ducklings begin to fly, the female leaves them and flies away to molt.

Benefit/harm for humans: Mallard is an object of sport hunting.

Population/Conservation Status: common throughout its range. The main threat to mallards is habitat loss.
Ducks living in cities are susceptible various diseases, for example, they are often poisoned by low-quality food.
Mallards create hybrids with other duck species, which negatively affects the purity of these species.

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Ducks were originally wild birds. Over time, people decided to domesticate them, engage in poultry selection and breeding at home. The work of breeders has yielded results, and today there are many breeds that are divided according to their focus on meat and dairy, can be kept away from the reservoir and quickly gain weight. Let's consider why scientists were so interested in the duck at one time and what features this waterfowl has.

We can say about ducks that they are folded proportionally, they do not differ large sizes and have a beautiful color, which is typical for many species of small birds. The color of the duck is very diverse. If we talk about other birds, then within one species the color varies slightly. Ducks often have feathers on their wings of blue color, giving glare in the sun. Scientists call the areas with blue feathers “mirrors.”

It is difficult to distinguish between male and female ducks. Only in late autumn, when the mating season of waterfowl begins, the color of males becomes brighter than that of females. It is also worth noting that in the fall the bird molts, changing its flight feathers. Accordingly, the ability to fly is lost during this period.

It is difficult to say how many species of ducks exist today. Scientists have divided all types of waterfowl into 8 large groups:

1. earthen;
2. shiny;
3. steamer ducks;
4. mergansers;
5. marine;
6. diving;
7. warblers;
8. river

The principle of division is quite clear based on the name of each group. This classification is not the only one. Scientists identify as many as 13 genera, but the main ones remain the ones listed above. The smallest number of species belongs to the group of land ducks. Representatives of the Shelduck or Ogar breed (has red plumage), which are land ducks, cannot be found everywhere today. The hunters tried to ensure that birds from the group of land ducks were rarely seen today. Some species were last seen 40-50 years ago. These include, for example, the crested shelduck.

Most often found in nature is the mallard, which looks unsightly in the photo. It has an impressive size and lives near water bodies. Unusual-looking Argentinean, polar and black white-breasted ducks, orange mandarin ducks, long-tailed ducks, red whistling ducks, red or blackheaded ducks, and blue waterfowl ducks of the Favorite breed. In addition to representatives of the breed with different feather colors, there are birds with beaks of different colors. True, in this case, the colors vary slightly. The beak can be orange, olive or gray, and sometimes these colors can only be distinguished from a photo; there is also a beak red, yellow or white interspersed with black.

Features of nutrition of ducks of different groups

If we talk about ducks living in nature, they eat what they can find in open water or in the forest. If we talk about land ducks, their food is a variety of herbs; they skillfully choose those herbs that are beneficial to the body and do not contain poison. They also extract roots from the ground, which contain large amounts of nutrients.

A distinctive feature of the steamboat duck is its ability to dive deeply. A duck living on a pond is able to reach the bottom, where it finds food. Steamboat ducks love to eat various mollusks and crustaceans.

Ducks belonging to the group of diving ducks are not able to dive deep into water. Their tail is always above the water, so they can feast on those river inhabitants that swim close to the surface of the water: these are zooplankton, various worms and insects, and mollusks. The diving duck feeds and various plants, growing in water

Mergansers with an attractive crest on their heads are capable of underwater hunting. In addition to shellfish and worms, they often treat themselves to fish. Mergansers live near the seas and feed on sea fish.

domesticated duck

Today, many people keep this waterfowl at home. Despite the fact that maintaining it takes a lot of effort, people are reproducing it more and more often. This is due to the taste of waterfowl meat, which lays large eggs.

When kept at home, it is necessary to arrange places for swimming if there is no body of water nearby, otherwise the duck does not gain weight properly. It is also worth taking into account the fact that the duck eats an unusually large amount. At home, she is fed mash, the basis of which is grain crops. In order to make the food fortified, fruits and vegetables are added to it, root vegetables and mineral supplements in the form of chalk and crushed shells are given to the children. The most common vegetable that birds are given is pre-boiled potatoes. They also pamper their wards with carrots and beets, greens, which they peck very well.

The yellow chick fledges at 30 days. During this period, he is safely released into the pond. Until that time water treatments do not last long, because the fluff is permeable. The growth rate of the bird allows it to be raised quickly. Ducks are killed at the age of 5-8 months. Age is regulated by growth rates and characteristics of the breed.

You can make a house for raising waterfowl with your own hands by looking at the photo finished works. There are also photo lessons related to the arrangement of poultry houses. The barn should be equipped with a brooder for keeping chicks. Peking duck and common white duck are popular for home breeding.

The greatest danger awaits day-old chicks. During this period, they need to be monitored especially carefully. Raising waterfowl at home is not difficult because they are in good health. The first sign of disease is lameness.

Pets that are limping must be caught and placed in a separate cage. The same applies to individuals who throw back their heads.

Interesting facts about ducks and ducklings

We will not deal with descriptions of bird species, but will talk about interesting facts. In fact, the duck is extraordinary interesting bird that lives both in the wild and in household. It is interesting that they began to domesticate these waterfowl back in ancient Egypt. But despite this, the population of wild birds remains huge to this day.

Let's look at what else this waterfowl attracts attention with.

1. The Chinese are the most active breeders of ducklings. According to statistics, the Chinese raise 2 million representatives of this waterfowl every year. If we compare this figure with the world figure, which is 2.7 million, we can calculate that it is ¾ of it. This love for these individuals is due precisely to the unique taste of the meat, which they cook with different seasonings and marinate in various marinades.
2. If we talk about the species diversity of ducks, today scientists recognize about 110 species. Although this figure cannot be called a record, it is surprising.
3. Everyone knows that under certain conditions any sound is reflected. This is due to the laws of physics. But duck quacks are not subject to these laws. Wherever this bird quacks, you will not hear an echo.
4. In order to get food for itself, a duck is able to dive 5-6 meters. The duckling will not dive that deep, but is also capable of underwater hunting. True, in this case we are talking about certain types of waterfowl.
5. Few people know that only females are capable of quack. In this way they call male representatives during mating and communicate with ducklings. It would be incorrect to say that males, called drakes, cannot quack. They make certain sounds, and sometimes quite loud ones, which differ from the quack of females: they are more like a hiss.
6. Another fact that practically no one knows concerns the structure of the neck in waterfowl. No one will dispute the fact that it is unusually short in ducks. But it contains more vertebrae than a giraffe. They just have miniature sizes.
7. Little ducklings can be easily deceived by placing them after birth on the wrong duck, but on any other one, or even on a chicken. Ducks consider their mother the creature they first saw after birth. This makes it easier to keep chicks at home.
8. Since the duck is a waterfowl, nature made sure that its wings never get wet. Duck feathers can be wetted only after they have been treated with special compounds. This allows ducks to swim at any time of the year, even in winter, and to conduct underwater hunting.
9. During molting, a duck that loses feathers is not able to fly. During this period, it becomes easy prey for hunters and large animals.
10. Wild birds change their location for the winter, although not all waterfowl leave their reservoirs. Some live in a particular area throughout the year. And those that do migrate for the winter cover several hundred kilometers a day. As for record distances, it was recorded that some individuals are able to fly about 500 km per day. At the same time, ducks fly at a speed exceeding 100 km / h. According to the data available today, the highest speed at which a bird can move is 170 km/h.
11. Another feature regarding the structure of birds that almost no one knows about, despite the fact that everyone has seen a duck at least once in their life. This bird has 3 eyelids, each of which performs a specific function.
12. The history recorded the fact of a collision of an aircraft with a duck. It happened at an altitude of 9 km above sea level. Almost no bird can rise to such a height.
13. Duck feet do not have nerve endings or blood vessels. It is thanks to this fact that they calmly swim in cold water and walk on cold ice for several hours in a row.
14. There is an interesting historical fact about ducks. In 1916, there was a conflict between Ireland and Great Britain, which caused military action on the territory of these countries. They did not bypass Dublin, which was home to a large number of wild ducks. Their main location was the central park. At a certain time, all hostilities ceased, and the park worker was busy feeding the birds.
15. Ducks also once helped to study the currents of the ocean. True, they were plastic. A certain merchant ship, while sailing, “lost” containers with plastic ducks in the ocean. For many years after this event, plastic ducklings were found in various parts of the world.
16. Despite the taste of duck meat, it is not eaten by residents of Latin America.
17. Ducklings are best trained to eat from each other's backs. This is due to the fact that food, according to waterfowl, must move.
18. Well, the last interesting fact is that a duck can breathe underwater.

These are the main ones, but not all Interesting Facts about ducks.

Gastronomic interest in ducks

Duck is not only a beautiful, but also a tasty bird. Today a wide variety of duck meat is used to prepare meat dishes. In addition to the fact that cut carcasses are fried, stuffed and baked, rolls with mushrooms and other fillings and pate are prepared from the sirloin. The most delicious, according to many people, is duck with honey or cherries, baked in sour cream, and orange. And in principle, honey is often used as a marinade for duck meat, which turns out aromatic and extremely tasty. And carcasses are cut only with a sharp knife.

Duck meat is served with potatoes, mushrooms, beans or vegetables.

In general, every nation has its own secrets for preparing this wonderful meat. The Chinese are especially knowledgeable about ducks, baking them in honey. The second most popular dish in the world is stuffed duck. As a filling you can use sauerkraut with lingonberries, apples, rice, buckwheat with mushrooms. You can also stuff the duck with potatoes, beans and any other legumes. A well-cooked duck can be confused with a turkey.

Consider how to roast duck or stuff it with potatoes, as well as best recipes We will not cook or photograph the dishes. Recipes can be very different, and here it is worth experimenting in search of your dish. We only note that the calorie content of duck meat dishes is on average 300 kcal per 100 g.

For cooking, whether in honey, sour cream or other marinade, use varieties that were bred as meat breeds, since they have the most delicious meat. There are already meat breeds that many people love, but new ones appear every year. They should not be ignored as breeders are always working to improve taste qualities meat.

Some people sometimes mistakenly believe that ducks are stupid birds. This is not at all true, they are quite smart, and nature itself has adapted them to survive in the harshest conditions. These birds are able to cross seas and continents, survive extreme cold and eat a wide variety of foods. For this, perhaps, they should thank evolution.

Facts about ducks

• Of the more than 110 species of ducks existing in the world, more than 30 are found in Russia (facts about Russia).
• Three quarters of all domestic ducks (about 2 million) are raised in China each year.
• Contrary to popular myth, duck quacks do have an echo under certain conditions. But in most cases there really is no echo, this is a fact.
• Drakes cannot quack at all - only the females of these birds can produce this sound.
• A duck's neck has more vertebrae than a giraffe's.
• In a year, an adult duck can lay up to 240-260 eggs.
• Cases have been recorded when ducks floating on the surface of a reservoir became victims of large pikes (facts about pikes).
• Duck feathers cannot be wet because they are covered with a special fat layer. This secretion is produced by glands near the base of the tail feathers, and ducks use their beaks to apply it to their entire body.
• The paws of these birds are unable to sense cold, since they lack blood vessels and nerve endings.
• During their annual molt, ducks lose their ability to fly as they lose many feathers.
• Moving on land, these birds awkwardly waddle from side to side due to their short and, moreover, widely spaced legs.
• Everyone knows that ducks sometimes dive underwater in search of food, but few people know that the depth of their dive can be 5-6 meters.
• Having eaten, they swallow stones and clay. This helps them digest food more efficiently.
• Little ducklings actually consider the first creature they see after emerging from the egg to be their mother. Moreover, this creature may be, for example, a person or domestic cat- the ducklings don't care.

• Duck meat is popular among chefs almost all over the world. The only region where domestic ducks are almost never bred is the countries of South and Central America.
• Once, back in 1992, during a storm, several containers filled with plastic ducklings were washed away from the deck of a merchant ship by the waves. In total, about 30 thousand toys were lost, and then they were found in different parts of the world over several years. But every cloud has a silver lining - thanks to these discoveries, scientists were able to learn a lot of new things about ocean currents.
• During migration, ducks sometimes fly 400-500 kilometers in a day.
• Ducks have three centuries. One for blinking, one for protecting the eye and one for sleeping. By the way, it’s the same with owls (facts about owls).
• Ducks usually fly at an average speed, but researchers once recorded a wild duck flying at a speed of 170 km/h. She was flying in front of a small plane, and was obviously deathly scared, which gave her strength.
• These birds rarely rise to a height of more than a kilometer, however, they are capable of this. Once in the USA, a plane collided with a duck at an altitude of 6.5 kilometers.
• Ducks have 80 chromosomes.
• Judging by the archaeological finds discovered, about 5,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, people had already domesticated ducks and were actively breeding them.
• During the molt, these birds stop laying eggs.

The mallard is the most famous bird among ducks. According to the classification of species, the mallard is part of the order Anseriformes, but it is also customary to classify it as a member of the duck family.

Appearance

Externally, the mallard is a rather dense and well-fed duck. These birds have a very small tail, but the head is quite impressive. The mallard can reach 60 centimeters in length; small birds are about 40 centimeters long. The wingspan of these individuals reaches one meter. One wing on average has a length of about 30 centimeters. The mallard's body weight is approximately 1.5 kilograms.

The beak, as traditionally in ducks, is quite wide and flat. Representatives of the sexes have different beak shades, so the sex can be easily determined by it. Males, as a rule, receive a beak whose base has a greenish tint, but towards the end it changes to yellow. Older males may have beaks without an orange or olive-colored tint. The females have a rather unusual beak; you can see black specks on it at the base.

Males and females of these wild ducks are, in principle, quite easy to distinguish from each other, since this species is characterized by sexual dimorphism. Representatives of the sexes of mallards have significant differences in their appearance. Young males, as a rule, have a very bright and iridescent color. For example, on their head and neck they usually have feathers of a beautiful emerald color. There is also a small area on the neck white, which resembles a collar. The back is usually gray in color, which gradually changes to black. The breast traditionally has a dark brown tint, and the belly is colored gray colors. Males have very beautiful wings. They are mainly covered with brown plumage, however, there is also a patch of blue-violet color on it, which resembles a kind of mirror. This mirror is framed with white feathers. The tail of drakes is usually gray or black. The mirror on the wings becomes larger and larger with age. Females have less bright colors. During the molting period, drakes are almost impossible to distinguish from females by color, since their colors also become quite pale. Only the beak can help in such a situation. All ducks have red legs.

Females do not have such complex plumage as males. In most cases, their color can be found in shades of gray, brown and red. They are traditionally placed on the back and wings. The feathers on the chest are ocher, the legs are a dull orange.

Where do they live?

Mallards are mainly distributed in the northern hemisphere. In our country, they can be found in the Tundra. If we take Europe, then they are found there quite often; they cannot be found except in the highlands. Such wild ducks are partly migratory. For example, those individuals that live in Greenland do not fly anywhere for the winter, since the climate there is suitable for nesting. From Russia, ducks traditionally migrate to Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea. In the Himalayas, mallards simply come down to wait out the winter.

In general, mallards prefer to live in forest-steppe belts. They can live in both fresh and salt water. These ducks do not really like rivers and other bodies of water that have a fast current. In addition, mallards do not settle near lakes, in which there is very poor flora and fauna.

As soon as the time comes to set up their nests, mallards find ponds with standing water, since they contain large quantities reeds and sedges grow.

What do they eat?

Mallards eat quite diversely, they are not whimsical in food. Each meal can be compared to a filtering process. These ducks have special plates in their beaks that can separate plants and aquatic animals. Mallards calmly eat fish, tadpoles, insects and even frogs.

Near bodies of water, you can sometimes come across an unusual picture when a duck plunges its head and body into the water, leaving only its tail sticking out. This phenomenon means that the mallard is trying to get aquatic plants, growing at the bottom.

How does shedding occur?

A distinctive feature of mallards in comparison with other bird species is molting, which occurs as much as twice a year. This phenomenon accompanies mallards before nesting and at the end of the mating season. As soon as the females begin to incubate the eggs, the males begin to change plumage. In females, molting begins after the chicks begin to make their first flights. If a female is left without a mate during the mating season or does not lay eggs, her molting process will begin at the same time as the males. To change their plumage, mallards usually leave their homes for the steppe.

How does reproduction occur?

Puberty in ducks occurs at the age of one year. It is from this moment that mallards can already fully reproduce. As a rule, if ducks do not migrate, then in the fall they begin to look for a mate. The rest do this after flying to warmer climes. Most often, in flocks, the number of males is much greater than the number of females. This is due to the fact that females often die during the period of incubation of eggs. It is this fact that forces males to participate in a real struggle for females, as well as for the opportunity to continue their race. To show the female your best qualities, males use certain mating rituals.

First, the drake carefully swims up to the female, lowering its beak down. Then he very sharply and with great expression brings his beak up several times, the whole process is accompanied by splashes. If he really likes the female, then the male begins to hide his beak under his wing, accompanying this action with traditional sounds. If the female also takes a fancy to the drake, she swims around him in several circles, nodding her head as she does so. After this, the resulting pair is removed to a secluded place, where mating occurs.

Traditionally, the drake is present with its other half only until it lays eggs. Then he joins other males and flies away with them to the steppe to molt.

Arrangement of the nest

Only females are involved in arranging the nest of mallard ducks. They can choose any place. Most often, thickets of reeds or sedges, tree hollows or old nests of other birds are chosen for this purpose. At the moment when eggs are laid, the nest is not always completely completed; sometimes the female completes its arrangement after incubation. Females absolutely do not like to leave their nest during the period of hatching their offspring, and therefore they often end up in the teeth of foxes, raccoon dogs or marsh harriers. If the female loses her clutch, she may next lay her eggs in a neighbor's nest or in the old nests of other birds. One clutch includes up to 15 eggs. Traditionally, mallards do not lay fewer than 9 eggs.

After hatching from the eggs, the chicks have olive or creamy down on their bodies. It takes only 20 hours for babies to start running, diving and swimming. After this, they begin to feed on their own and look for insects.

Video: mallard (wild river duck)