Wild Ducks - Silly Question

[pebojuno]

I was looking at the duck section in a book of British wildlife and had a thought (Unusual I know )

Why/How do wild ducks e.g. pochard stay within their own particular breed to mate and raise ducklings?

I know that lots of breeds of wild ducks congregate with others and also that the domestic duck breeds will inter breed with each other as well as wild mallards so how is it that other wild breeds don't and remain pure?

Probably a silly question- but it was bothering me - :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Seemed a good place to put my first post!

Given how choosy most dabbling ducks aren't this isn't such a silly question..

All species of wildfowl have courtship displays that highlight certain identifying features and serve to show the duck that not only is the drake of the right species, he's the best father for her offspring.

Mandarins for instance have a mock-preen that shows off their 'wing fans' and pintails stick their bums in the air to show off their elegant tails. The theory is that these only appeal to the right female and prevent hybridisation taking place.

Looking at the colour range of domestic ducks and the ease with which they pair with wild birds, how they act says more about who they are than how they look. Just consider a female mallard paired with a white drake, he lacks the green head or blue wing bars but she knows that underneath it all, he's a mallard drake.

Hybrids are more likely to result when choice is taken away, such as when captive birds are spare and look for the closest match going, or when species that don't meet in the wild encounter each other and have similarities in plumage or courtship behaviour that overlap.

 

[pebojuno]

It all makes sense now- so because domestic ducks are descended from mallards they have similar displays and so will interbreed more freely than with other wild ducks (unless they are desperate :shock: ) Thank you Tappers