Hottentot duck
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Hottentot duck |
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| Spatula hottentotta | ||||||||||||
| ( Eyton , 1838) |
The Hottentot duck ( Spatula hottentotta , syn .: Anas hottentota ) is an African duck bird that is counted among the swimming ducks. The populations found in Madagascar have long been considered a separate subspecies, but this distinction is no longer in use today.
Appearance
General characteristics
With a body length of 30 to 33 centimeters, the Hottentot duck is hardly larger than one of the dwarf duck species . The duck is not very happy to call. Both sexes emit click sounds that increase to a harsh ke-ke-ke if they are disturbed or if they are blown. But otherwise it is a very quiet and overall little conspicuous duck. The main distinguishing features include the dark head cap, the dark neck, the light brown cheeks and throat and the blue beak. In its natural range it can be confused with the red-billed duck , another African duck species. However, this one is larger, paler, has white cheeks and a distinctive red beak. In flight, the smaller size, the high airspeed and the dark wing mirror make the Hottentot duck recognizable.
It is very similar to the Versicolorente , a South American species of duck. However, there is only a possibility of confusion in the case of enclosure animals, since the natural range of the two species does not overlap.
feather dress
The Hottentot duck has neither a seasonal dimorphism nor a conspicuous sexual dimorphism . The body plumage is brownish, with the individual feathers having light borders. The underside of the body is paler. The chest and front neck are spotted. The wing covers are dark and the green wing mirror is closed by a black and white band. The lower wings are bright. The blue beak has a black border on the upper beak. The legs and feet are dark gray. The iris is brown.
The difference between males and females is only slightly pronounced. The underside of the body of the females is spotted from the chest to the tail. Males, on the other hand, usually do not have any spots on the flanks, but a fine dash between the flanks and tail feathers. In the males, the innermost arm wings and the scapulars are shiny black-green. The scapulars also have a light longitudinal stripe that results in two parallel light lines over the back. In the female, however, the scapulars have narrow, light-colored ends. The wing mirror is almost dull. In young ducks, the spots are completely absent, less noticeable or limited to a few spots.
The chicks are gray-brown on the upper side of the body. The underside of the body is gray-yellow. The cheeks are pale and tinged with reddish brown. They also have a gray-brown ear mark.
Distribution area and existence
The African distribution area of the Hottentot duck is disjoint. An isolated population lives in Equatorial Africa in an area that stretches from northern Nigeria through Niger, Cameroon and Chad. Separated from this by the rainforest, a second distribution area extends in a wide band from Ethiopia to the eastern Cape Province on the southern tip of Africa. The third distribution area is Madagascar.
The way of life of this duck, which is often only active at twilight and at night, makes an inventory difficult. However, it seems that the duck is relatively common in its entire range. This also applies to Madagascar. Here it is one of the most common species of duck that can be seen on Lac Alaotra . In South Africa it also adopts water retention basins and large cattle troughs as habitats. The stocks there are also likely to increase. Overall, the population is estimated at 1,000 to 5,000 individuals in Chad and 25,000 to 100,000 individuals in East and South Africa. The population in Madagascar is thought to be 5,000 to 10,000 ducks.
habitat
Hottentot ducks prefer shallow freshwater bodies and lakes as their habitat. They prefer to look for food on the banks' edges and usually stay between the floating leaf vegetation. They are also often found in cattail and papyrus stocks . When in danger, they hide in vegetation, where they are difficult to make out. Large flocks of Hottentot ducks are also rare outside of the breeding season. However, they are often associated with other duck species such as the red-billed duck or the African pygmy duck .
The Hottentot duck prefers to look for food during twilight on land and in flooded fields such as rice fields. It also uses watering holes that are used by ungulates and that have strong footprints on the bank . The food is taken in by shallow water, but also wading through the shallow water with the head submerged. During the daytime she often sleeps on the open water. However, she also comes to rest on land. Their diet consists mainly of seeds and fruits, but they also eat aquatic invertebrates. Animal diet can even make up the majority of their diet if there is sufficient availability of invertebrates.
Reproduction
The Hottentot duck does not have a very striking courtship repertoire. The ducks are also not territorial. The couple bond lasts for a long time. The male also accompanies the female when she leads the chicks.
Clutches of Hottentot ducks are found all year round. Presumably, rainfall triggers the breeding season in large parts of the distribution area. The Hottentot duck is, however, a more distinctive resident bird than many other African duck birds and predominantly uses waters that are not subject to seasonal dehydration.
The nest is built in the vegetation zone along the waters. But it also uses islets in the water that are created by trees lying in the water or papyrus flowers. The nest is built from the material that is in the immediate vicinity of the nest. The eggs are oval and cream-colored to slightly yellowish. The full clutch consists of six to nine eggs. The female breeds alone. The breeding season is 25 to 27 days. The chicks can fledge after 60 to 65 days.
Keeping in human care
The first living Hottentot ducks reached France and England in 1929 and 1935. The world's first breeding was achieved in Great Britain in 1938. In the 1950s and 1960s, wild-caught fish were very common in Europe, so that they were often pulled by private owners during this period. Sustainable breeding only began in the 1960s. Today there is a stable population of rebred Hottentot ducks. Zoos occasionally show them in their tropical halls, for example the Berlin Zoo or the Zurich Zoo in the Masoala Hall .
supporting documents
Individual evidence
literature
- Janet Kear (Ed.): Ducks, Geese and Swans. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2005, ISBN 0-19-854645-9 .
- Hartmut Kolbe: The world's ducks. Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-8001-7442-1 .
Web link
- Spatula hottentota inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2014.