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Species
Least Concernvia IUCN
Wikidata facts
Show 10 more facts
- taxon rank
- species
- IUCN conservation status
- Least Concern
- taxon name
- Biziura lobata
- Commons category
- Biziura lobata
- Commons gallery
- Biziura lobata
- taxon common name
- pato-de-rabo-alçado-almiscarado
- endemic to
- Australia
- litter size
- 2.4
- egg incubation period
- 24
- short name
- B. lobata
via Wikidata · CC0
~9 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The musk duck (Biziura lobata) is a highly aquatic, stiff-tailed duck native to southern Australia. It is the only living member of the genus Biziura. An extinct relative, the New Zealand musk duck or de Lautour's duck (B. delautouri), once occurred on New Zealand, but is only known from prehistoric subfossil bones. It was about 8% longer than the living species, with a particularly large head.
This animal derives its common name from the peculiar musky odour it emanates during the breeding season. Musk ducks are moderately common through the Murray-Darling and Cooper Creek basins, and in the wetter, fertile areas in the south of the continent: the southwest corner of Western Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Musk Duck” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.