Jackwow

What Will Their Offspring Look Like?

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This male Mandarin duck took up residence in the pond in Figgate Park in Edinburgh a couple of months ago and has become a bit of a local celebrity. Anyway he has taken a shine to this female Mallard and follows her everywhere as well as aggressively chasing off any other ducks (of any species), male or female, who come anywhere near her. She doesn't seem to mind his attention. Has anyone seen a mandarin / mallard hybrid?

22 Feb 2016
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What will their offspring.....

Plenty of inter-generic hybrids are produced. However, the more distantly related the parent species, the less likely the hybrid is to reach maturity. Chicken x Turkey and goat x sheep hybrids usually fail in the early stages of cell division. Carolina Wood Duck (same genus as Mandarin) hybrids with both Aythya and Anas species are common, but always infertile and cannot themselves reproduce. Muscovey Duck x Domestic Mallard, sometimes deliberately bred as table birds, show normal reproductive behaviour, and the females lay eggs, but neither sex can actually produce offspring. As said above, it is the chromosome number that makes a Mandarin hybrid very unlikely.
 

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