Why does this duck look so plump?

The Winter Paralympics has begun. Speaking of the Winter Olympics, I believe the cute images of Bing Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon will immediately come to everyone’s mind. After all, they are mascots that are very popular outside the circle and even outside the country!

Especially Bing Dwen Dwen, which is designed based on the panda prototype. It is so rare and hard to get one during the Winter Olympics!

Do you know that besides pandas, there is a rare animal called panda duck?

The panda duck is rare not because of its small number, but because of its rare appearance. So what does it look like?

Panda duck with dark circles

Panda duck is a name given by people based on its appearance. Its Chinese name is Mergellus albellus, also known as white merganser. It belongs to the class of Aves, the order of Anseriformes, the family of Anatidae, the genus Merganser, and the species Mergellus albellus.

Since it is called Panda Duck, let’s first post a picture to see if it has the temperament of a panda.

Image from gbif

The male and female panda ducks look quite different. The male has a white head and neck, while the area around the eyes is black, just like the two dark circles under the eyes of a giant panda, which looks quite funny.

There are black spots on both sides of the head, which look like the two black ears of a giant panda from the front (the name really fits it).

The feathers in the center of their back are black, and the front part of the upper back is white with black spots, forming two relatively narrow semicircular black stripes that extend down to the sides of the chest.

The wings are mainly black with a large and obvious white wing patch. The male's iris is red, and the bill and tarsus are lead gray.

What distinguishes the female panda duck from the male is that the female's head to the back of the neck is chestnut, with black around the eyes, white neck sides, cheeks and throat, dark brown feathers from the back to the tail, and grayish white from the front neck to the chest.

The female has a brown iris and a grey-green bill and tarsus.

In summary, we can see that the male's feather colors are mainly black and white, and they are more similar to giant pandas.

Female individual, photo from Xinhua News Agency

The front part of the panda duck's beak is like a hook, and there is a very sharp tooth-like structure on the upper side, which can hold the fish tightly when hunting and prevent them from escaping.

They mainly feed on small fish, and during the breeding season they also prey on some invertebrates and occasionally eat some plants. They are good at swimming and diving, and usually swim and dive to catch food.

The picture is from Tadpole Jun, taken at Wanping Lake in March 2018

Panda ducks prefer to breed in forest rivers and ponds with slow flows. May of each year is their mating season, and females will display "teasing" behavior when courting.

The picture is from Tadpole Jun, taken at Wanping Lake in March 2018

Panda duck pairs usually form on the way to migration. They lay eggs after migrating to the breeding grounds. Generally, they lay 6 to 9 light yellow eggs each time, which hatch after about 28 days.

Image source: Xinhua News Agency

By the way, the color scheme of this guy is similar to that of a giant panda. Is it also as rare as the giant panda and a national protected animal?

Distribution and conservation status of the panda duck

The panda duck is indeed a national protected animal and has been included in the "List of Key Protected Wildlife in China". It is currently a second-level protected animal.

The panda duck has attracted people's attention because of its unique appearance. It is an ornamental duck with a high survival rate of chicks, but artificial breeding is very difficult.

The picture is from Tadpole Jun, taken at Wanping Lake in March 2018

Panda ducks are widely distributed in many countries including Afghanistan, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, etc. Their breeding grounds are mainly in Europe and northern Russia, eastern Siberia, the Pacific coast, and Turkey.

Distribution map of panda duck, image source: https://www.iucnredlist.org/

It is also distributed in Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi, Jiangxi, Shandong, Henan, Sichuan, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Qinghai and the southeast coast of my country, but it only breeds in the Greater Khingan Range of Hulunbuir League in the northeast.

The population of the panda duck has decreased due to the destruction of the wetland environment. Although it is not yet in danger of extinction, it is no longer common in its previously common habitats, so its population protection needs to be strengthened.

The nature reserves where the Spotted Merganser is distributed in my country include but are not limited to Xianren Cave, Shuangtai Estuary Waterfowl, Three Lakes of the Songhua River, Momoge, Zhalong, Mudan Peak, Poyang Lake Migratory Birds, Poyang Lake Migratory Birds, Lianhua Mountain (Wuyuan, Jiangxi), Song Mountain, Swans in the Old Yellow River Course in Northern Henan, Dongzhai Birds, Wenziling, Beidadingzi, Baihe Changbai Pine (Jilin), Changbai Mountain, Sanshan Island Sea Treasures, Aihe Water Source, Mengjin Yellow River Beach, Manghe River, Luya Mountain, Lingkong Mountain, Yellow River Delta, Rongcheng Swan, Dianchi Lake, Haba Snow Mountain, Shenmu Sabina, Baiji Beach, Qinghai Lake Bird Island, Qinghai Lake Bird Island and Wangbao River (it can be said that the protection measures are quite good!), and there are also many observation records in suitable rivers outside many nature reserves.

I believe that such a fat and chubby duck will definitely be loved by everyone. With our increasingly improved environmental conditions, they will appear more and more in everyone’s vision!

It is the spring migration season recently. Many netizens have spotted panda ducks in Beijing parks (Summer Palace) and surrounding reservoirs (Shahe Reservoir). If you go out and take a look, you may also see it~

END

Review expert: He Jiale, project officer of WWF Northeast Resident Working Group.

Tadpole Musical Notation original article, please indicate the source when reprinting

Editor/Xiao Xitushuo