Basic Species Information
There are two species of domestic duck, the common duck, domesticated from the wild mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), and the muscovy duck (Cairina moschata). Both are members of the Anatinae. In both species, the same scientific binomial is used for the domestic and the wild forms. Farmers sometimes interbreed the two species, but their offsprings are infertile. The name “muscovy” duck does not come from Russia but is thought either to be a corruption of “musk” duck, from its musky smell (Darwin 1868), or of “miskito” duck, after the Mosquito coast of South America where the invading Spanish first encountered the duck. Both species of domestic duck produce eggs and down as well as meat and both are valuable on farms and smallholdings for reducing pests (Serjeantson 2009: 302-4).
The natural distribution of the mallard is across temperate Eurasia and North America. It has a wide ecological tolerance. The male mallard in breeding plumage has a gray body, green...
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Serjeantson, D. (2014). Duck: Domestication. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_2205
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