Crested Shelduck

Schopfkasarka

The Schopfkasarka (Tadorna cristata ), also referred to as Korea Shelduck or Hood Sheldrake, is a probably extinct half goose belonging to the genus of shelduck. Their original home was the Amur region, northeastern China, North and South Korea, possibly the Japanese island of Hokkaido. Representations of Schopfkasarka in Japanese and Chinese painting suggest that the species was formerly common and most likely was kept in captivity. She is also mentioned in an old Japanese book on ornithology. From 1877 it was also known in the Western world and some scientists such as Philip Sclater Lutley hypothesized that it could be a hybrid of Ruddy Shelduck and sickle duck. This theory was rejected in 1917 in the scientific first described by the Japanese ornithologists Nagamichi Kuroda; However, they went their never seriously by trial crossings.

• 3.1 Notes and references
• 3.2 External links

Features

The length was 58 cm, wingspan 35 cm. The tail was about 11.7 cm long. Of the other species Kasarka they were to be distinguished above all by its vertex cover. The male had alleged in breeding plumage, a green hood with a gray face and a black mask-like eye-streak, the females have a black hood with a white face and a black belt under eyes. The plumage was metallic green with white undershoot and black primaries. The back of the male was gray, that of the female gray brown. The coverts showed an ocher tone. The abdomen was dark brown running with fine light brown diagonal lines. The beak and legs were colored fleischrot. About the Mauser course in this Kasarkaart nothing is known.

Nest, eggs and nests have not yet been scientifically described. Probably the brooding Schopfkasarka but in tree holes as do other Kasarkaarten. Their habitat were mountain forests. They stayed there for probably along rivers and streams, and possibly lakes. During the winter half- time it was observed in the vicinity of estuaries and coastal areas, so that apparently held migration in this species.

Extinction

Probably the Schopfkasarka was rare even during the last 300 years. Between 1716 and 1736 some of these shelduck of Korea were imported to Japan in order to breed them there. More birds have been introduced for this purpose at least until 1854 to Japan. For these captive Schopfkasarkas but no more offspring are available.

In the years 1877, 1913 and 1916, the Schopfkasarkas were shot three times in total. These specimens (two females and one male ) are now in the Museum Collections of Copenhagen and Tokyo. On May 16, 1964 Russian students found three copies ( one male and two females ) in Primorye ( on the island of Bolshoi Peli in the Bay of Peter the Great in the Sea of ​​Japan near Vladivostok ) and sketched them. From the 1970s onwards there was only scattered unconfirmed reports of sightings (most recently 1985). In the 1980's, the Chinese Minister of Forestry offered a prize to anyone who could provide proof of the continued existence of this species. This action has so far been unsuccessful. If the species has survived to remainders of populations will probably find in the inaccessible border region on the North Korean / Chinese border. From the IUCN she is listed as " threatened with extinction " ( critically endangered ). The causes of the decline, the destruction of their habitats and a subsistence apply.