Duck Facts

Name Origin

Ducks got their name from the Old English word dūce, which means 'diver.' This word is a derivative of the verb dūcan, which means 'to duck.' This word was chosen due to the way many ducks feed by ducking or diving into the water. This word was used to replace 'ened,' which may have been to avoid confusion with other words.

Biological Family

Each and every duck subspecies belongs to the biological order Anseriformes, which is a group that contains ducks, geese, swans, screamers, and magpie geese. All of these also belong to the biological family Anatidae except for screamers.

Spread

Ducks are on every continent (except Antarctica)! Some duck species manage to live on subantarctic islands, such as South Georgia and the Auckland Islands, and others have reached isolated oceanic lands, such as the Hawaiian Islands, Micronesia, and the Galápagos Islands.

Call Ducks

Call Ducks are a common domestic breed of ducks, typically being white and weighing less than 2.2 pounds. Due to their domestic and small nature, they are commonly featured on social media. Originally, call ducks were used to lure other ducks or predators into funnel traps, though now many are simply kept as pets.