Chatham Duck

The Chatham - duck ( Pachyanas chathamica ) is an extinct breeds of ducks that was endemic to the Chatham Islands. It is known only from subfossilem bone material that was found in the Te Whanga Lagoon.

The skeleton, the Chatham - duck from as large, powerfully-built duck. With a weight of 1.5 kilograms, they weighed about as much as the recent Paradieskasarka (Tadorna variegata ). Their short wings suggest that it was probably flightless. She had great salt glands on the skull, which could be an indication that their habitat were the brackish waters of Te Whanga Lagoon and protected sections of the coast.

The kinship of Chatham - duck have long been unclear. Skeletal characteristics, such as the protruding rear edge of the shoulder blade ( Margo caudalis ) and a raised dorsal hump on the humerus rather to suggest a relationship with the half- geese ( Tadorninae ) than with the dabbling ducks ( Anatini ). However, the bill has similarities to a dabbling ducks beak. Studies of mitochondrial DNA provide the Chatham duck in the genus Anas as basal species within a clade of New Zealand and Subantarctic ducks ( Aucklandente (A. aucklandica ), New Zealand duck (A. chlorotis ) and Campbell Duck ( A. nesiotis ) ).

The main food, which probably consisted of crabs and shellfish, the Chatham - duck found on the water surface. Maybe they fed on by aquatic plants. In addition to the Hawkins - Rail ( Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi ) the Chatham - duck is the second extinct on the Chatham Islands endemic waterbird from a monotypic genus.

The exact date of extinction is unknown. You apparently disappeared between the arrival of the Polynesians in 1350 and the arrival of Europeans in 1791. Since the Pacific rat only the chicks could be dangerous, overhunting is considered by the Polynesian settlers as the most likely Aussterbeursache.