The wild is a dangerous place for humans and for animals, it’s cutthroat and only the strong will survive. Animals in the wild kill each other in a variety of ways, including drowning
But do ducks drown other ducks? This article looks into it
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Do ducks drown other ducks?
Ducks aren’t always the relaxed and peaceful animals that we see, drowning can happen between ducks, and it’s scary to see.
Here is what you need to know about the topic:
Can ducks drown?
Ducks may enjoy being on the water and being around it but they can indeed drown, these animals are birds, not fish so they can’t stay underwater for too long as they would drown if they did.
These birds can hold their breath for an average of 10 to 30 seconds, a few birds will be able to hold their breath for about a minute. If ducks stay underwater for longer than one minute then they will drown
A duck will drown another duck in this scenario:
During mating:
Ducks don’t know that drowning can kill another duck but they can accidentally do it.
If ducks are having a disagreement the only way they know how to come to a resolution is to fight, pull the feathers off, and peck the other duck, they don’t try to drown another bird.
However, drowning does happen accidentally during the mating season
The mating season can be an annoying time for female ducks as male ducks get very aggressive during this time. Ducks have a strong drive to reproduce, and drakes (male ducks) will do their best to mate with as many females as possible
Some males will even force themselves on female ducks as a way to get them to have their ducklings.
This will go as far as a group of male ducks ganging up on the female duck and pinning her down while another male mounts her and forces himself into her
The male birds may pluck out her feathers, smother her, batter her, peck her, and hold her head underwater to a point where they eventually drown her on accident during this time
The practice usually happens when the ratio of male ducks to female ducks is off.
As a result, some male ducks will not have a female duck who accepts their advances willingly, so they will force themselves on a female duck to get the chance to reproduce.
If the female duck’s male partner cannot protect her from the gang of ducks, and the female can’t get away, then the group will gang up on her
This may seem horrific to humans but its common practice for female ducks, she may try to waddle away or swim away before they reach her to no avail
What to do:
This is a common practice among ducks, thankfully this practice doesn’t usually lead to the female duck dying but it can happen
If you try to shoo the drakes away from the female duck then they may leave her alone for a little bit but their urges will cause them to try again later
If the ducks are on your property, you can add more female ducks giving the males the opportunity to have a mate and not try to mate with another male’s female duck partner.
You also have the option of removing the excess male ducks from your property, this will work if you don’t care to have ducklings but still want duck eggs
Do ducks kill other ducks?
Ducks do kill other ducks, this happens between drakes and ducklings.
A drake’s basic hormonal instinct is to find a mate and get her to produce offspring for him.
If a male duck wants to reproduce with a female duck, and the female duck is giving attention to her ducklings and not to him, or not enough attention to him in his view, then the male duck will kill the ducklings so that the female duck can focus on him and give him ducklings.
If the drake kills the ducklings then the females will mate with him because it’s in her nature to want to successfully raise offspring.
This may sound horrific but it not only happens in ducks, other animals in the animal kingdom do this as well.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other duck related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Ducklings Separated From Their Mother, How To Stop Ducks From Pooping On The Driveway, Aggressive Female Duck Behavior, Will Ducks Adopt Other Ducks?,
