🦆Mallard
The mallard or wild duck is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa. It has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Falkland Islands, and South Africa. Belonging to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae, mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varying sizes.
Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
IUCN Red List assessment, 2025.
- Body mass
- 0.84 kg
- Body length
- not recorded
- Shoulder height
- not recorded
- Top speed
- not recorded
- Bite force
- not recorded
- Maximum lifespan
- 29 years
Everything we know about the Mallard
Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.
Body mass0.84 kgAVONETOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 1.05 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Tail length0.09 mAVONETDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0
Wing length0.26 mAVONETDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0
Beak length0.06 mAVONETDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0
Tarsus length0.04 mAVONETDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0
Maximum lifespan29 yearsAnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: acceptable
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
Gestation26 daysAnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: acceptable
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
Litter sizeabout 9AnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: acceptable
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
Trophic levelHerbivoreAVONETDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0
HabitatWetlandAVONETDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0
LifestyleAquaticAVONETDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0
Danger to humansharmlessSeaLifeBaseDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: SeaLifeBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0
Volume l0.8 LaverageDetails ↓Hide ↑
Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.
average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.
Not recorded for Mallard yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.
Family tree
- kingdomAnimalia
- ›phylumChordata
- ›classAves
- ›orderAnseriformes
- ›familyAnatidae
- ›genusAnas
- ›speciesAnas platyrhynchos
- classBirds · Aves
- superorderGalloanserae
- orderDucks, geese & swans · Anseriformes
- familyAnatidae
All 12 branches ↓Fewer branches ↑
- kingdomMetazoa
- phylumChordata
- subphylumCraniata
- subphylumVertebrata
- superclassGnathostomata
- superclassSarcopterygii
- superclassTetrapoda
- orderSauria
- classBirds · Aves
- superorderGalloanserae
- orderDucks, geese & swans · Anseriformes
- familyAnatidae
More about the Mallard
Animals caught on camera
Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.
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How speed, brain and bite scale with body size. This animal isn't in the sample yet.
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