I am attaching a copy of a picture of two ducks I took this evening at Umina Beach NSW. Michael Morcombe's guidebook suggests that Northern Mallards and Black Ducks hybridize. These specimens look partially like northern mallards, black ducks and wood ducks. But they sounded very much like wood ducks. Does anyone know whether northern mallards and wood ducks hybridize? Are they capable of reproduction?
Many thanks.
Mallards & Pacific black ducks yes. I haven't heard of mallards & wood ducks hybridizing. Hopefully not.
Thanks woko. I am curious as to why you hope mallards and wood ducks will not or do not hybridized?
Mark, the introduction of mallards to Australia means that the genetic integrity of the native Pacific black duck has been compromised through hybridization. This may well eventually lead to the extinction of the Pacific black duck. The same principle would be applied to mallards & wood ducks should they begin to hybridize. Hybridization needs to be left to natural evolution wherever possible rather than via humans introducing animals with hyrbridizing potential. It will, of course, be argued that many of our foods come from forced hybridization but that in itself is no argument, in my opinion, for us to allow our native creatures to go the same way.
Thanks Woko, I certainly agree with that sentiment. The damage that Europeans have wrought on this continent is nothing short of appalling. Climate change is likely to finish it all off in short measure and anything we do around trying to preserve biodiversity is probably just fiddling around at the edges.
Climate change is certainly bringing some biodiversity changes. Whether it'll "finish it all off" is open to debate because the logical extension of continuing to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is something like the planet Venus. However, I have enough faith in the power of climate change to eventually cause the closing down of Homo sapiens. I wish I had the same degree of faith in Homo sapiens. That said, it's no excuse to do what we can, as individuals and collectively, to try, try, try to reduce or eliminate human-induced climate change. Otherwise we might as well curl up in a ball & be consumed by dung beetles & that's not a course of action I would endorse. Not for myself, anyway.
Me neither....