Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Anseriformes > Anatidae > Tadorna > Tadorna cana

Tadorna cana (South African Shelduck)

Synonyms: Anas cana

Wikipedia Abstract

The South African shelduck or Cape shelduck (Tadorna cana) is a species of shelduck, a group of large goose-like birds which are part of the bird family Anatidae, which also includes the swans, geese and ducks. This is a 64 cm long bird which breeds in southern Africa, mainly in Namibia and South Africa. In the southern winter, many birds move north-east from the breeding range to favoured moulting grounds, where sizable concentrations occur. This species is mainly associated with lakes and rivers in fairly open country, breeding in disused mammal holes, usually those of the aardvark.
View Wikipedia Record: Tadorna cana

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
0
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
8
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 2.52758
EDGE Score: 1.26061
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  3.499 lbs (1.587 kg)
Birth Weight [2]  83 grams
Female Weight [1]  3.124 lbs (1.417 kg)
Male Weight [1]  3.876 lbs (1.758 kg)
Weight Dimorphism [1]  24.1 %
Diet [3]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Granivore, Herbivore
Diet - Invertibrates [3]  20 %
Diet - Plants [3]  50 %
Diet - Seeds [3]  30 %
Forages - Ground [3]  50 %
Forages - Water Surface [3]  50 %
Clutch Size [5]  10
Clutches / Year [1]  1
Egg Length [1]  2.756 inches (70 mm)
Egg Width [1]  1.968 inches (50 mm)
Fledging [1]  70 days
Incubation [4]  30 days
Mating Display [2]  Ground display (mostly)
Maximum Longevity [1]  10 years
Snout to Vent Length [1]  25 inches (64 cm)

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

Important Bird Areas

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Cape Floristic Region South Africa No
Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland No
Succulent Karoo Namibia, South Africa No

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 2Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 3Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 4del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
♦ 5Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0