• Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Patreon
  • Premium Membership
  • Services

Natural History

by Scottie Westfall

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« They are big
I guess it turned spring »

Could this ugly duck save the world?

April 25, 2015 by SWestfall3

ivan

I had Muscovy ducks when I was kid. The first one came from a place where they had taken over a creek bed in Lewis County, West Virginia, and they had bred up into near plague proportions.

The owner’s line was, “They are free if you can catch ’em!”

And my grandpa caught my first Muscovy.  For some reason the duck imprinted on two hyperpredatory dogs, who strangely accepted the little peeper as a pup.  However, the little duck didn’t follow canine decorum around the feeding bowl, and Frito the elkhound went to discipline his charge.  And the little Muscovy was no more.

The next duck came from a poultry fancier who hatched out her ducklings under a “banty hen.”  This duckling was only a day old when I got her, and she strongly imprinted upon me. She followed me everywhere, running hard to keep up.

She was named “Chester” under the assumption that she was a male, but then the next spring she started laying eggs.

So much for that name!

She lived for several years, but she eventually met her demise from a predatory dog attack.

These ducks were just pets. It didn’t even cross my mind that anyone should eat a duck.

I also didn’t even know the proper name for the species. I thought they were “whispering” or “quackless” ducks.

I actually thought that was their name.

And the fact that I couldn’t tell the gender of my duck after she matured really showed my ignorance. A Muscovy drake is a massive creature with lots of nasty caruncles on the head. Chester was a petite duck with a gentle little pipping call.

I’ve generally not thought much about these ducks, but because I’m interested in ducks again, I am starting to realize some things about Muscovy ducks.

Muscovy ducks have the potential to save the world.

I know that might sound like a grandiose claim, but allow me to explain what I mean.

Muscovy ducks produce a dark red meat. Their breasts have been compared to beef in terms of flavor and texture, and in a world that is under siege from belching, farting, forest and grassland destroying cattle, the Muscovy duck could hold the key to producing a red meat that is much more sustainable that cattle ever could be.

A Muscovy drake can weigh more than 10 pounds at only 90 days of age, and it can reach that size eating very little grain. Indeed, in warmer climates, they can get a lot of their food from foraging alone.

They also breed very easily.  Pretty much all you need is a drake and some hens, and they will start laying eggs and hatching ducklings. In Florida, the canals are full of these ducks, which are now almost like aquatic pigeons. They can raise three or four clutches a year, and these clutches can have 15-20 ducklings in them.

They do very well in warm climates, and if we want people in developing countries in the tropics to have a sustainable source of red meat, the Muscovy duck could be a really important resource.

Now, it is well-known that the world’s current consumption of cattle is unsustainable. We can’t grow enough grain to feed them, and we just don’t have enough pasture to run them. Cattle produce quite a bit of methane, which means they are part of the climate change problem. If the whole world starts to eat beef like North Americans do, we are asking for an ecological disaster.

Muscovy ducks might be a way of getting a “beef substitute” that is truly sustainable.

Of course, these ducks do have their problems. They don’t do well in the coldest places in the world. They also can be vectors of poultry diseases.  They also can go feral and displace native waterfowl.

However, they still have the potential to provide a much more reliable source of red meat than cattle do, and this is something that needs to be considered within the framework of sustainable development.

If we do, these ugly ducks might hold the key to saving the world.

 

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Print
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Posted in birds | Tagged Muscovy duck | 4 Comments

4 Responses

  1. on April 25, 2015 at 10:37 pm casdog1

    They are awesome.


  2. on April 26, 2015 at 9:34 am massugu

    I would add emus and ostriches to that list as well.


    • on April 28, 2015 at 12:04 am dobermann

      I tried emu once. After a couple of bites I fed the rest to my dogs.


  3. on April 28, 2015 at 12:38 am dobermann

    There were once about 60 million bison in North America doing what cattle are doing now. I wasn’t aware that the buffalo hunters who nearly wiped them out were doing the planet an ecological service.

    Some cultures are never going to eat beef in the quantities westerners do, they simply prefer pork, chicken, and goat. I don’t think American beef lovers are going to go for Muscovy duck as a substitute for beef either, especially if they like their beef rare.

    Ironically, if the numbers on Wikipedia are to be believed, the country with the largest number of cattle is India where comparatively little beef is eaten at all.

    The reason cattle numbers are becoming a problem still boils down to too many people.



Comments are closed.

  • Like on Facebook

    The Retriever, Dog, and Wildlife Blog

    Promote Your Page Too
  • Blog Stats

    • 9,548,943 hits
  • Retrieverman’s Twitter

    • retrievermanii.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-la… https://t.co/su6REHh0jV 5 hours ago
    • @Fiorella_im Seder = Democrats' George Costanza. The Jerk Store called. They don't want him returned. 12 hours ago
    • one person unfollowed me // automatically checked by fllwrs.com 13 hours ago
    • @Fiorella_im @MagnusPanvidya @theconvocouch How many liberals and TYT-type Youtuberati are you going to piss off tonight? 1 day ago
    • one person unfollowed me // automatically checked by fllwrs.com 3 days ago
  • Google rank

    Check Google Page Rank
  • Archives

    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • October 2012
    • September 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
    • February 2010
    • January 2010
    • December 2009
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • September 2009
    • August 2009
    • July 2009
    • June 2009
    • May 2009
    • April 2009
    • March 2009
    • February 2009
    • January 2009
    • December 2008
    • November 2008
    • October 2008
    • September 2008
    • August 2008
    • July 2008
  • Recent Comments

    markgelbart on Retiring this Space
    oneforestfragment on Retiring this Space
    The Evolving Natural… on So does the maned wolf break t…
    SWestfall3 on So does the maned wolf break t…
    Ole Possum on So does the maned wolf break t…
  • Meta

    • Register
    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.com
  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 1,700 other followers

  • Pages

    • About
    • Contact
    • Patreon
    • Premium Membership
    • Services
  • Subscribe to Retrieverman's Weblog by Email
  • Revolver map

    Map

  • Top Posts

    • Long-haired boxer x
  • SiteCounter

    wordpress analytics
    View My Stats
  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 1,700 other followers

  • Donate to this blog

  • Top 50 Northwest Dog Blogs

    top 50 dog blogs

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: