Cairina moschata

Geographic Range

Muscovy ducks are native to Mexico, Central, and South America. Wild populations of Muscovy ducks live in the lower Rio Grande and in some parts of Texas. Muscovy ducks have also been domesticated and adapt well to colder climates. Feral populations are found in parts of North America, Canada, and Europe.

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic nearctic
  • introduced introduced
  • native native
• palearctic palearctic
  • introduced introduced
• neotropical neotropical
  • native native

Habitat

Muscovy ducks prefer to live in forest areas near water. They roost in trees at night and create nests in tree cavities.

• Habitat Regions
• temperate temperate
• terrestrial terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest forest

• Aquatic Biomes
• lakes and ponds
• rivers and streams

• Wetlands
• marsh marsh
• swamp swamp
• bog bog

• Other Habitat Features
• riparian riparian

Physical Description

Muscovy ducks are large ducks, averaging 4.3 kilograms. The typical wingspan of a Muscovy duck is between 137 to 154 centimeters. Males are generally larger than females. Muscovy ducks have red, fleshy protuberances on the face. The plumage is brownish-black with iridescent green and purple dorsal plumage and with white wing patches. Domestic Muscovy ducks come in a wide variety of plumages, most are white, others are pied, buff, brown, chocolate, lilac, and blue.

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger
• sexes colored or patterned differently
• ornamentation ornamentation

Reproduction

Males raise their crests as a dominance display to other males. They also use their crest as a means of attracting female mates. Females seem to select larger males with the largest crests. There is high variation in male mating success; a few males mate with most of the females leaving most males unsuccessful in reproduction. Unsuccessful males form small bachelor groups. Muscovy ducks have been described as having a lek mating system.

• Mating System
• polygynous polygynous

Muscovy ducks breed from the beginning of August to May. During breeding season, dominant male ducks attract female ducks by wagging their tails and showing off their crests. After a female mates she builds a nest in a hollow tree usually 3 to 18 meters high. Nests are constructed of twigs, stems and mud. Females lay, on average, 8 to 10 eggs per laying effort. The incubation period is from 33 to 35 days. Females incubate the eggs and protect them until they hatch. Females protect nestlings for 60 to 70 days, until the young are independent. During this time females teach ducklings how to eat, what to eat, how to swim, and how to fend off enemies. After 28 weeks most females reach sexual maturity. Male Muscovy ducks take about 29 weeks to reach sexual maturity.

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous iteroparous
• year-round breeding year-round breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual sexual
• oviparous oviparous

Female Muscovy ducks incubate and protect their young for 60 to 70 days, when they become independent. Males guard territories where females raise their broods.

• Parental Investment
• precocial precocial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-independence
  • protecting
    • male
    • female

Lifespan/Longevity

Wild and domesticated Muscovy ducks typically live for 7 to 8 years. Muscovy ducks seem to be resistant to most diseases. Avian influenza leads to a 100% mortality rate and is an exception.

Behavior

Muscovy ducks are social. They have a social hierarchy in which male Muscovy ducks protect territories that they establish by dominating other males with visual displays, such as crest displays. Males that are dominant maintain territories and mate with females that nest in those territories. Other males that live within the territory act as bachelors. They are non-migratory and active during the day.

• Key Behaviors
• flies
• natatorial natatorial
• diurnal diurnal
• motile motile
• sedentary sedentary
• territorial territorial
• social social
• dominance hierarchies dominance hierarchies

Home Range

There is no information on home ranges in Muscovy ducks.

Communication and Perception

Muscovy ducks communicate with visual cues, such as wagging their tails, and through vocalizations, such as hisses towards threats and quacks as contact calls. Other visual cues include raising and lowering their heads toward one another. During mating season males will raise their crest to establish dominance over other male ducks. Male ducks also raise their crest to attract females.

• Communication Channels
• visual visual
• acoustic acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual visual
• tactile tactile
• acoustic acoustic
• chemical chemical

Food Habits

Muscovy ducks are omnivorous. They feed on the roots, stems, leaves, and seeds of aquatic and terrestrial plants. They also feed on small fish, reptiles, crustaceans, insects, millipedes, and termites. Muscovy ducks dabble and graze with their bills to collect food.

• Primary Diet
• omnivore omnivore

• Animal Foods
• reptiles
• fish
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods
• mollusks
• aquatic crustaceans

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• roots and tubers
• wood, bark, or stems
• seeds, grains, and nuts

Predation

Muscovy ducks prefer to sleep in water during the night to easily escape predators. They use anti-predator responses such as alarm calling, freezing, and attempting to escape when disturbed. Known predators are dogs and red foxes .

Ecosystem Roles

Muscovy ducks, especially ducklings, may be important prey for terrestrial predators or aquatic and avian predators. They impact populations of aquatic and terrestrial vegetation and animals through their foraging.

• Ecosystem Impact
• creates habitat

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Muscovy ducks may help to control harmful insect populations through their foraging. They are also domesticated and are used for food and in other products. Domesticated Muscovy ducks are used in farms as a way of controlling pest populations of flies, snails, locusts, grasshoppers, and slugs. Muscovy ducks put into cow pens reduce fly populations by 80 to 90 percent. They are also kept by poultry enthusiasts.

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade pet trade
• food food
• controls pest population

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

Muscovy ducks are aggressive in nature and will bite to protect themselves. Feral populations can also damage property. Muscovy ducks, along with other kinds of waterfowl, carry avian influenza virus subtype H5N1, which can be passed to humans.

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
  • bites or stings
  • carries human disease
• causes or carries domestic animal disease causes or carries domestic animal disease
• household pest

Conservation Status

Although wild populations seem to be declining, Muscovy ducks are common in their native range. Domesticated Muscovy ducks are common and widespread. Feral populations now live in areas outside of their native range. They are not considered threatened currently.

Additional Links

Encyclopedia of Life

Contributors

Allen Schagene (author), Centre College, Stephanie Fabritius (editor, instructor), Centre College, Tanya Dewey (editor), Animal Diversity Web.

References

Agirrre, W., University of Southern Mississippi. 2008. "Cairina Moschata (Linnaeus, 1758)" (On-line). Accessed March 28, 2009 at http://nis.gsmfc.org/nis_factsheet.php?toc_id=210 .

Burke, D. 2009. "Muscovy Pet Road Tests > Birds" (On-line). Muscovy. Accessed March 26, 2009 at http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/2000/archives/2000/roadtests/birds/muscovy .

Campagnolo, E., M. Banerjee, B. Panigraphy, R. Jones. 2001. An Outbreak of Duck Viral Enteritis (Duck Plague) Domestic Muscovy Ducks. Avian Diseases , 45(2): 522-528.

Depart of Health and Human Services, 2005. "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention" (On-line). Influenza Viruses. Accessed March 31, 2009 at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/gen-info/flu-viruses.htm .

Fish and Wildlife Service , Interior, 2008. "Federal Register Fish and the Wildlife Service" (On-line). Accessed March 28, 2009 at http://www.fws.gov/policy/library/E8-19550.html .

Grzimek, B. 2003. Domestication of birds/artificial selection. Pp. 21 in Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia , Vol. Volume 8-11, Second Edition. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group.

Grzimek, B. 2003. Significance to humans. Pp. 373 in Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia , Vol. Volume 8-11, Second Edition Edition. Farmington Hills, MI: The Gale Group Inc.

Harman, H. 1994. "Farm Radio International" (On-line). Muscovy Ducks are Easy to raise and they control flies. Accessed March 29, 2009 at http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/31-3script_en.asp .

Hillman, J., E. Earp. 2007. "Cairnia Moshcata Muscovy Duck" (On-line). Accessed March 31, 2009 at http://www.floridanature.org/species.asp?species=Cairina_moschata .

Lesbarrères, D. 2008. Avian Influenze Virus (H5N1) Mortality Surveillance. Emerging Infectious Diseases , 14(7): 1176-1178. Accessed March 30, 2009 at http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/14/7/pdfs/1176.pdf .

Luca, B., N. Alda, V. Marta, C. Damiano, M. Franco, A. Fabrizio. 2005. First Report of Parasitic Esophagitis by Streptocara incognita in Muscovy Ducks (Cairina moschata domesticus) in Italy. Avian Diseases , Volume 49: 298-300. Accessed April 01, 2009 at http://www.jstor.org/stable/info/1593583?seq=1&Search=yes&term=muscovy&term=ducks&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dmuscovy%2Bducks%26wc%3Don%26dc%3DAll%2BDisciplines&item=3&ttl=321&returnArticleService=showArticle&resultsServiceName=doBasicResultsFromArticle .

Peterson, A. 2006. "ITIS Report" (On-line). Cairina Moschata. Accessed March 27, 2009 at http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=all&search_value=Cairina+moschata&search_kingdom=every&search_span=exactly_for&categories=All&source=html&search_credRating=All .

Rodrigues, A., J. Pilgrim, J. Lamoreux, M. Hoffmann, T. Brooks. 2005. The Value of the IUCN Red List for conservation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution , 21(2): 71-76.

Smith, D. 2006. "Backyard Poultry" (On-line). Muscovy Ducks. Accessed April 01, 2009 at http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/issues/2/2-5/Dennis_P_Smith.html .

Standing Committee, 1999. "Human Rights and Legal Affairs" (On-line). RECOMMENDATION CONCERNING MUSCOVY DUCKS (CAIRINA MOSCHATA) AND HYBRIDS OF MUSCOVYAND DOMESTIC DUCKS (ANAS PLATYRHYNCHOS). Accessed March 28, 2009 at http://www.coe.int/t/e/legal_affairs/legal_co-operation/biological_safety,_use_of_animals/farming/Rec%20Muscovy%20ducks%20E%201999.asp .