--- title: "Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) | AnimalTracks.wiki" description: "The wild ancestor of nearly all domestic ducks, and a hen that lays larger eggs after mating with a male she prefers." image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/mallard-1.webp" published: "2026-09-29" updated: "2026-09-29" --- # Mallard (*Anas platyrhynchos*) > **Status**: Checked against 9 sources, listed under Sources below. > **Tagline**: The wild ancestor of nearly all domestic ducks, and a hen that lays larger eggs after mating with a male she prefers. > **Soundtrack Vibe**: 2000s Pop & R&B Anthem // *NSYNC, "Bye Bye Bye" > **Soundtrack Links**: [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/62bOmKYxYg7dhrC6gH9vFn) > **Vibe Match**: Groups of four to five mallard drakes may swim around one female and perform the same courtship display together. *NSYNC were five singers, and "Bye Bye Bye" is remembered for its tightly synchronised dance routine. ## Biological Superpowers & Stats - **Taxonomy**: *Anas platyrhynchos* - **Danger Level**: Low - **Conservation Status**: Least Concern ([IUCN Red List](https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2025-2.rlts.t22680186a281835571.en)) - **Superpower**: Hens lay larger eggs after mating with a preferred male - **Habitat**: Almost any freshwater habitat across the Northern Hemisphere, from marshes and rivers to city parks - **Diet**: Mostly plants, plus insects, worms, mollusks and small fish - **Tags**: bird, omnivore, wetlands, flying, adaptable, migratory, urban ## Natural History & Behavior ## Bigger eggs for a preferred mate A hen mallard's eggs can depend on her mate. In a study reported in *Nature*, individual females laid larger eggs after copulating with preferred males and smaller eggs after copulating with less preferred males. As a result, they produced offspring in better body condition when paired with preferred males. Courtship is a crowd act. Groups of four to five drakes may swim around a female, arch their necks and whistle. Then they dip their bills below the water and jerk them up to their breasts, spurting water toward the preferred female. This water-flick may take only a fraction of a second. > **Where farm ducks come from** Nearly all domestic ducks, such as the Pekin duck, descend from wild Eurasian mallards, domesticated in China around 500 B.C. ## Size and lifespan A mallard is a medium to large dabbling duck, 50 to 65 cm long with a wingspan of 82 to 95 cm. Males and hens are similar in size, and both weigh 0.9 to 1.4 kg. A mallard usually lives 5 to 10 years in the wild, and the oldest known was a male that lived to 27. ## Dabbling for dinner Mallards forage in water by dabbling, by submerging the head and neck, or by up-ending. They rarely dive. On land they graze and pluck seeds. The majority of the diet is plant material, including seeds, stems and roots. They also eat insects, mollusks, tadpoles, frogs, earthworms and small fish. Like other dabbling ducks of the genus *Anas*, a mallard can spring into the air without running across the water first. It is the most numerous Holarctic waterfowl species, found across the whole Northern Hemisphere. In North America, most mallards are migratory, breeding in the northern United States and Canada and wintering in the southern United States and Mexico. The familiar quack comes from the female. Her decrescendo call is given when she wants to bring other ducks, such as her ducklings, to her. The hen leads the young within a day after hatching. ## Ducks in the city Audubon notes that in many places the mallard has managed to domesticate itself, relying on handouts in city parks. There is a catch. Game-farm mallards are released into the wild on purpose, and the spread of their genes into wild populations has been hypothesized to at least partly explain recent mallard declines in eastern North America. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### How long do mallards live? Usually 5 to 10 years in the wild, according to the National Wildlife Federation, whose oldest known mallard was a male aged 27. *(Source: [National Wildlife Federation, Wildlife Guide]())* ### Do all mallards fly south for the winter? No. Mallards that breed far north mostly migrate and spend winter much farther south. Those that breed in temperate regions, such as parts of Western Europe, can be residents. *(Source: [Kraus et al. 2011]())* ### Are mallards endangered? No. The IUCN Red List rates the mallard Least Concern, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service calls it the most abundant duck species in North America. *(Source: [The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025]())* ## Sources 1. [Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.]() 2. [Mallard. National Audubon Society, Guide to North American Birds.]() 3. [Mallard. National Wildlife Federation, Wildlife Guide.]() 4. [Rogers (2001). Anas platyrhynchos (mallard). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.]() 5. [Cunningham & Russell (2000). Egg investment is influenced by male attractiveness in the mallard. Nature.]() 6. [Schummer et al. (2023). Population genetics and geographic origins of mallards harvested in northwestern Ohio. PLOS ONE.]() 7. [Kraus et al. (2011). Evolution and connectivity in the world-wide migration system of the mallard: Inferences from mitochondrial DNA. BMC Genetics.]() 8. [Duck Displays. Stanford Birds.]() 9. [Anas platyrhynchos. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025: e.T22680186A281835571.]() *Published September 29, 2026. Last updated September 29, 2026.* ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Article", "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/mallard/#article", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/#website" }, "headline": "Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) | AnimalTracks.wiki", "description": "The wild ancestor of nearly all domestic ducks, and a hen that lays larger eggs after mating with a male she prefers.", "image": [ "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/mallard-1.webp" ], "datePublished": "2026-09-29", "dateModified": "2026-09-29", "author": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "AnimalTracks.wiki Editorial Team", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki" } ], "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/#organization", "name": "AnimalTracks.wiki", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/icon-512.png" } }, "mainEntityOfPage": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/mallard/", "citation": [ { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)", "url": "https://www.fws.gov/species/mallard-anas-platyrhynchos", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service" } }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Mallard", "url": "https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/mallard", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "National Audubon Society, Guide to North American Birds" } }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Mallard", "url": "https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Birds/Mallard", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "National Wildlife Federation, Wildlife Guide" } }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Anas platyrhynchos (mallard)", "url": "https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Anas_platyrhynchos/", "author": "Rogers", "datePublished": "2001", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan" } }, { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Egg investment is influenced by male attractiveness in the mallard", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/35003565", "author": "Cunningham & Russell", "datePublished": "2000", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "Nature" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1038/35003565" }, { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Population genetics and geographic origins of mallards harvested in northwestern Ohio", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282874", "author": "Schummer et al.", "datePublished": "2023", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "PLOS ONE" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0282874" }, { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Evolution and connectivity in the world-wide migration system of the mallard: Inferences from mitochondrial DNA", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2156-12-99", "author": "Kraus et al.", "datePublished": "2011", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "BMC Genetics" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1186/1471-2156-12-99" }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Duck Displays", "url": "https://web.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Duck_Displays.html", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Stanford Birds" } }, { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Anas platyrhynchos. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025: e.T22680186A281835571", "url": "https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2025-2.rlts.t22680186a281835571.en", "datePublished": "2025", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species" }, "identifier": "doi:10.2305/iucn.uk.2025-2.rlts.t22680186a281835571.en" } ], "about": { "@type": "Taxon", "name": "Mallard", "scientificName": "Anas platyrhynchos", "description": "Hens lay larger eggs after mating with a preferred male" } }, { "@type": "FAQPage", "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/mallard/#faq", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "How long do mallards live?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Usually 5 to 10 years in the wild, according to the National Wildlife Federation, whose oldest known mallard was a male aged 27.", "citation": { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Mallard", "url": "https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Birds/Mallard", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "National Wildlife Federation, Wildlife Guide" } } } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Do all mallards fly south for the winter?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "No. Mallards that breed far north mostly migrate and spend winter much farther south. Those that breed in temperate regions, such as parts of Western Europe, can be residents.", "citation": { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Evolution and connectivity in the world-wide migration system of the mallard: Inferences from mitochondrial DNA", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2156-12-99", "author": "Kraus et al.", "datePublished": "2011", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "BMC Genetics" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1186/1471-2156-12-99" } } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Are mallards endangered?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "No. The IUCN Red List rates the mallard Least Concern, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service calls it the most abundant duck species in North America.", "citation": { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Anas platyrhynchos. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025: e.T22680186A281835571", "url": "https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2025-2.rlts.t22680186a281835571.en", "datePublished": "2025", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species" }, "identifier": "doi:10.2305/iucn.uk.2025-2.rlts.t22680186a281835571.en" } } } ] }, { "@type": "MusicRecording", "name": "Bye Bye Bye", "byArtist": { "@type": "MusicGroup", "name": "*NSYNC" }, "genre": "2000s Pop & R&B Anthem", "url": "https://open.spotify.com/track/62bOmKYxYg7dhrC6gH9vFn" } ] } ```