Wildfowl 63 - page 11

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©Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust Wildfowl (2013) 63: 5–23
Madagascar’s wildfowl (Anatidae) in the new
millennium
H. GLYN YOUNG1*, FÉLIX RAZAFINDRAJAO2 &
RICHARD E. LEWIS 2
1Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Les Augrès Manor, Trinity, Jersey JE3 5BP,
Channel Islands.
2 Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, BP 8511, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar.
*Correspondence author. E-mail Glyn.Young@durrell.org
Abstract
Ten wildfowl taxa are resident in Madagascar including four endemics: Madagascar
White-backed Duck Thalassornis leuconotus insularis, Madagascar Teal Anas bernieri,
Meller’s Duck A. melleri and Madagascar Pochard Aythya innotata. These endemic duck
taxa were amongst the last wildfowl forms to be described in Africa and are
undoubtedly currently the rarest in this region. The history of our knowledge of
these birds follows four easily definable stages: discovery, understanding, protection
and the future. The new millennium has started with a much more detailed
understanding of the four ducks’ ecology than ever before, the protection of several
key sites and the re-discovery in 2006 of the Madagascar Pochard. The next few
years will tell if the ducks have a more secure future and, while not yet safe,
Madagascar’s ducks are perhaps now among the better known of Africa’s endemic
wildfowl.
Key words : endemic, Madagascar, protection, status review, wildfowl.
Madagascar has ten extant species of
wildfowl (Anatidae) with a further two
species (of sheldgeese) Centrornis majori and
Alopochen sirabensis known only from sub-
fossil remains (Table 1) (Young et al. 2003;
Young & Kear 2006). The extant taxa
include three full endemic species and
an endemic subspecies with varied
geographical origins: two species –
Madagascar Teal Anas bernieri and
Madagascar Pochard Aythya innotata – are of
Australo/Asian origins, and two others –
Meller’s Duck Anas melleri and the
Madagascan subspecies of the White-
backed Duck Thalassornis leuconotus insularis –
are of African origin (Young & Kear 2006).
The remaining, non-endemic, species have
an African or pan-tropical distribution
(Table 1). All four endemic ducks are
threatened with extinction, but have until
recently been very poorly known and almost
completely unprotected.