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Arundel Wetland Centre WWT Curious way of loose a species...

Discussion in 'United Kingdom' started by Kakapo, 16 Mar 2009.

  1. Kakapo

    Kakapo Well-Known Member

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    The last three Blue Ducks (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchus) in UK are two males and a female. The attempts of have a successful breeding are failed... because the two males love each other!

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wi...-out-in-UK-after-male-birds-get-together.html

    In one hand it's a courious new that make smile, but in the other hand it's an endangered species with quick habitat loss and difficut to breed in captivity because it lives in mountain rivers and torrents... We hope that soon they will have another drake for the alone female.
     
  2. JamesB

    JamesB Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Captive breeding in the UK hits an all time low as two male ducks fall in love!

    Sweet but sad story, did give me a bit of a giggle, on the point of weird love stories did anyone see the swan that fell in love with the boat?
     
  3. redpanda

    redpanda Well-Known Member

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    That was on springwatch, wasn't it. Apparently it got depressed when they took the pedalo away so now they've brought it back again!
     
  4. gentle lemur

    gentle lemur Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I was at Arundel a few weeks ago, just after this story appeared on the WWT website. I only saw 2 blue ducks (which I presume were the males) so I hoped the female might have found somewhere quiet to nest. I guess I was wrong. Photos of one of the ducks and the aviary in the gallery.

    Alan
     
  5. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    the story as told by an NZ paper, with info on the history of the birds. The comments by NZer Murray Williams are quite amusing: he seems to have some sort of sour grapes issue, as much as saying the ducks weren't supposed to be outside of NZ at all.
    Blue ducks outside NZ 'doomed' | Stuff.co.nz
     
  6. Pertinax

    Pertinax Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Aren't blue duck sexes identical in plumage? Are they sure it is two males that have paired up?
     
  7. Kakapo

    Kakapo Well-Known Member

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    I suppose that when a bird is so endangered and both sex are identical, any serious zoo would send feather samples for DNA sexing.
     
  8. Pertinax

    Pertinax Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I would imagine so too. If the sexes are accurate the only reason I can see for both drakes ignoring the female is because she's too old and therefore unattractive to them as a partner, but it is rather an odd situation.:confused:
     
  9. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    I just came across this update whilst looking for something else:
    Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) - National WWT News