World rarest duck

2_Drakes · **Posted:** Fri Dec 13, 2013 10:35 am

World rarest duck

Madagascar Pochard

Prior to a rediscovery in 2006, the last confirmed sighting of the species was at Lake Alaotra on the Central Plateau of Madagascar in 1991. The single male then encountered was captured and kept in the Antananarivo Botanical Gardens until its death one year later. Intensive searches and publicity campaigns in 1989–1990, 1993–1994 and 2000–2001 failed to produce any more records of this bird. However, a flock of nine adults and four recently hatched ducklings were discovered at Lake Matsaborimena, in a remote area of northern Madagascar, in November 2006.[11][12] The lack of human interference and invasive species in the area may have contributed to the species' higher numbers there compared to other area it is known to have inhabited in the past.[8] The species was placed in the new "Possibly Extinct" category in the 2006 IUCN Red List; following the rediscovery, its old status of Critically Endangered was restored in the 2007 issue.[10][13] As of 2008, only 25 adult birds had been counted in the wild.[14]

In 2009, the Madagascar Pochard population was estimated to consist of less than 50 of the species making it critically endangered, catalyzing a conservation project.[15] Non-governmental organisations such as the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, and the Peregrine Fund, with support from the Madagascar government and the Mitsubishi Corporation Fund, initiated an emergency operation to prevent further endangerment and possible extinction of the bird.[15] Lake Alaotra was declared a Wetland of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention in 2003 for the safety of the Madagascar Pochard and other endangered endemic species.[16] From the funding provided by the NGOs, funds, and trusts, a breeding facility was built to help hatch a small number of eggs taken from the wild in 2009.[15] Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust removed a batch of ready-to-hatch eggs from a lake-side nest and incubated them in a lab that was set up in a tent by the side of the lake. After hatching, the day-old chicks were taken to a holding facility in a local hotel.[14] Reared in captivity, they hatched eighteen ducklings in April 2012 at the captive breeding centre in Antsohihy, bringing the total population to 60.[12][17][18] In April 2013, the population reached 80,[2] The successful hatching of the ducklings “…represent an incredible step forward in the fight to save the pochard from extinction” as Dr.Glyn Young, a conservation biologist with Durrell stated[19] which foreshadows the possibility of adding a viable population back into the wild.[15]

Apart from establishing a breeding facility, additional steps have been taken to conserve the Madagascar Pochard. The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, the Peregrine Fund and two Ph.D. students, are working on identifying potential areas to release the healthy captive-bred birds.[20] Further conservation efforts have been placed on the habitat of Lake Alaotra, a natural habitat for the Pochard, but implementation of a conservation policy in between the Ramsar, will be difficult to pass, due to Lake Alaotra's economic prosperity and dependency of agriculture and fisheries.[21][22] Proposed steps that could be taken to advance the conservation of the Madagascar Pochard include protecting of least-modified wetland at Lake Alaotra, and further surveys of remote lakes to determine the existing population size.[23] The IUCN Red List suggests that community surveys and wetland awareness programmes in the bird's range be undertaken, and that further captive-breeding programmes be established.

Read more.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar_Pochard