Thirty-eight shoveler ducks, Anas clypeata , were collected in the Rio Grande Valley, Hudspeth County, Texas. Nineteen species of helminths, six species of lice and a sarcosporidian, Sarcocystis rileyi , were recorded. Seventeen of the nineteen species of helminths were observed in fall migrants and twelve species were recorded from spring migrants. The nematode Alifilaria pochardi Ali, 1969, i...

The 667 bp control region of mitochondrial DNA from 8 representative domestic duck breeds in China, which were all native preserved duck breeds, and a mallard (6 Anas zonorhyncha individuals) were sequenced. The genetic polymorphism and the origin of the 8 domestic ducks were analysed. The result showed that the haplotype diversity (Hd) and average nucleotide diversity (Pi) were 0.67136 and 0.1...

The maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop region is widely used for exploring genetic relationships and for investigating the origin of various animal species. Currently, domestic ducks play an important role in animal protein supply. In this study, partial mtDNA D-loop sequences were obtained from 145 samples belonging to six South-East Asian duck populations and commercial duc...

The ID Screen Influenza H5 Antibody Competition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was tested for the detection of antibodies to the H5 subtype of influenza A (IA) virus in waterfowl. Assays were conducted with sera obtained from Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) and Pekin Ducks (Anas platyrhynchos domestica), experimentally infected with eight low pathogenic (LP) and nine highly pathogenic (HP) H5N...

Wild populations of the world's most common dabbling duck, the mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), run the risk of genetic introgression by farmed conspecifics released for hunting purposes. We tested whether bill morphology of free-living birds has changed since large-scale releases of farmed mallards started. Three groups of mallards from Sweden, Norway and Finland were compared: historical wild (b...

a total of 8 species of wild ducks were collected from mazandaran and guilan provinces in the north part of iran. after autopsy, a total of 30 species of different helminths, 11 sp. from anas platyrhynchos, 6 sp. from anas crecca, 3 aythya fuligula, 3 sp . from aythya ferina, 4 sp. from aythya fuligula, 3 sp. from anas strepera, 2 sp. from anser anser and 7 sp. form cygnus cygnus, were recovere...

Embryonic mortality is a significant problem plaguing the commercial duck industry worldwide. Yet, an objective means to stage development of the duck embryo is lacking. Such a staging procedure, which is described in this study, is essential for the critical and reproducible assessment of embryo development. The morphological features associated with duck embryo development are very similar to...

Identifying the Campylobacter genotypes that colonize farmed and wild ducks will help to assess the proportion of human disease that is potentially attributable to the consumption of duck meat and environmental exposure to duck faeces. Comparison of temporally and geographically matched farmed and wild ducks showed that they had different Campylobacter populations in terms of: (i) prevalence, (...

Estimates of time spent at migratory stopovers are often used to develop habitat conservation objectives for a variety of avian species, namely waterfowl. Because of limited previous research and a need for accurate conservation planning objectives, we estimated stopover duration and factors influencing stay of mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) in Illinois using radio telemetry during autumns 2009 ...

Identifying the potential effects of industrially formed wetlands on waterfowl populations is important for assessing the suitability of such wetlands in industrial reclamation strategies. Mallard ducklings were held in situ on two industrially formed wetlands and one reference wetland in northern Alberta, Canada. Duckling mass and skeletal size were measured at regular intervals over 33 d, and...