In 2006, biologists for The Peregrine Fund discovered a remote and tiny population of Madagascar Pochards (Aythya innotata) made up of males, females, and most encouragingly—ducklings.

Madagascar pochards are a medium-sized diving duck endemic to Madagascar. Formally, the stronghold of this diving duck was Lake Alaotra, but the lake has over the years degraded due to agriculture production and pollution, the introduction of invasive species such as Tilapia sp. and water hyacinth, in addition to run off from anthropogenically-induced erosion via deforestation and soil degradation.

The duck was considered “possibly extinct” just before being rediscovered, but the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species currently lists the Madagascar pochard as critically endangered.

In order to save this species of duck from extinction, critical habitat must be designated where remnant populations exist, and establishing the species in captivity will further insure the survival of the species. From my experience, most species of pochard are relatively easy to keep, breed, and rear in captivity.

A recent expedition to Madagascar has failed to find new populations of Madagascar pochards in other areas. From the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust:

Dr Glyn Young recently participated in an expedition into Madagascar aimed at finding further populations of the Madagascar pochard – a medium-sized diving duck. The duck had been considered extinct by many authorities for more than ten years, until last winter’s sighting of nine adults and four juveniles….

According to Dr Young the ducks were found in a slightly different habitat and in a different location to what had been expected, sparking new hopes that there might be similar, undiscovered populations in Madagascar.

He said: “The Madagascar pochard is extremely secretive and little is known about its life-cycle and behaviour. It was believed that they preferred marshy lakes with lots of reeds and emergent vegetation but the newly discovered population was found in a steep sided volcanic lake with little shoreline marsh and reeds.”

This year’s expedition was aimed at locating further populations of the bird, but sadly four weeks of surveying Madagascar’s remote hill-sides yielded no further sightings.

Dr Young added: “The failure to find any other populations of the duck highlights the need for immediate conservation intervention to save this species. The Durrell team will be working closely with other conservation organisations over the coming weeks to develop a strategy that will stop this species disappearing off the face of the earth.”

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