Do Ducks Fight to the Death?
It’s hard to imagine a cute duck being violent and not at all peaceful like we often suppose it to be, swimming in the water and just silently drifting away. But it’s something ubiquitous for them.
Whether you’d like to accept it or not, the cute feathery ball of calm and serenity can turn aggressive any minute and surpass all your expectations.
But when it comes to that display of immense violence, do ducks fight to the death? Sometimes, they do. A lot of times, their aggressive attitude toward each other turns into an unexpected deathmatch within the blink of an eye.
If this feels unnerving to you, this is quite the norm for the animal kingdom. What you can do as a fellow duck-lover or duck owner is to keep their issue to the minimum to keep the fights from breaking out.
Which is easier when you know how much ducks fight and for what reasons.
Read more about ducks behavior:
Is It Normal for Ducks to Fight?
It is normal for ducks to fight. In the wild, animals are conditioned to physically engage in a fight for food, shelter, mate, and many times to assert dominance.
As a significant member of the waterfowl community in the animal world, ducks are no different.
Are Duck Fights Typically Aggressive Enough to Result in Serious Injuries?
No, duck fights aren’t typically aggressive enough to result in serious injuries. Unless we’re talking about the most aggressive, rare breeds. The ducks we’re surrounded by aren’t vicious enough for such a scenario regularly.
Before coming into physical contact, they’ll quack loudly. Will draw their neck out as much as possible and flap their wings vigorously to appear fear-striking. That is as far as it goes in most fights.
In more extreme situations, they start pecking and biting each other. Which injures the cornered bird at some level, but the fight usually ends before the circumstance gets too deadly.
Serious injuries happen mostly when ducks can’t agree on an alpha drake or drakes are too jealous of other drakes impressing their chicks.
What Are the Most Common Causes of Duck Fights?
Ducks know the rule of the animal fight club: it’s either fight or lose. From the ancient survival instinct, ducks can get aggressive at any given moment, without warning, to get the message across.
The most common causes of duck fights usually tend to be one of the following –
Asserting Dominance
Some of the male ducks, also referred to as drakes, like to be the alpha of the group, like most other communities in the animal kingdom.
It’s not a big issue when there’s only one head for the crown, but trouble begins when more than one drake wants to be the dominant bird of the group. And the fight usually happens between two drakes who desire to be on the top.
Competing for a Partner
During the mating season, as drakes try to approach the lovely lady ducks, another compatible drake in the coop means tension in the house.
Drakes can’t stand when other male ducks get closer to their chosen female partners, and they’ll attack to keep the other drakes away from their favorite ladies.
Insufficient Food
If you don’t want a fight to break out, make sure there’s enough food for all the ducks in the group. Ducks don’t understand equal sharing or compromise.
They only see there’s not enough food for all of the ducks and will bite or peck each other to keep the others way before they’re finished with their share.
Threatening Situations
As the survival instinct kicks in, ducks will fight with all strength and every feather in their body to get through another day.
In the presence of a predator or anybody who deems threatening, they start to flap their wings and get louder with time to scare the threat away. And the behavior gets worse until they feel safe once more.
Protecting the Kids
Ducks are pretty protective of their young ones. The leader drake of the group, and the mother duck particularly, will get super aggressive if anyone tries to harm or get close to the ducklings with bad intentions.
And in the case of little ones, they resort to violent pecking real fast!
Imprinting on Humans
We love ducks, and ducks love us. Sometimes, they love certain humans a little too much, leading to imprinting on them. Once they’re attached to a human being, they’ll fight any other duck, animal, or human being who gets near their favorite person.
And sometimes, that aggressive behavior can get intensely brutal.
Are There Certain Duck Species that Are More Prone to Fighting to Death Compared to Others?
Yes, there is. If you haven’t heard of Steamer Ducks already, it’s time you do. They’re the most aggressive ducks that would bite, beat, and fight to death.
And the worst part is, it’s not just other ducks, they’ll fight anything that’s in their territory. Even humans. More below on Steamer ducks –
Location
Steamers are famous, or notoriously infamous, duck breeds on the coasts of South American territories.
People love seeing ducks in their usual shenanigans, but the same can’t be said about the habitants and visitors of the Falkland Islands, Tierra del Fuego, Chile, or Argentina, where all four species of Steamer ducks have been living for centuries.
Species
Out of all four species, only the Flying steamer duck can fly, as the name suggests.
Falkland steamer duck, Fuegian steamer duck, and Chubut steamer duck have lost the ability to fly over the centuries, as their coastal bully lifestyle doesn’t have any need for flying or migrating.
These birds aren’t afraid of other animals in their territory and will pick up on any of them for food or to impress the female birds.
Physical Structure
Steamer ducks are a lot bigger than other ducks and have thicker skin (literally). Because of the size of their body, along with their extremely long neck and big head, these ducks are pretty much invincible to pain or assault like other breeds or animals.
Which results in the most aggressive behavior compared to other ducks.
Final Takeaway
In regards to, do ducks fight to the death? Since now you know how ducks are when it comes to aggressive behavior and what causes them to get all attack-ready, it won’t be hard for you to find a way around it.
You can’t end their natural brute sense of fight, but you can always tone it down by giving them what they want. Unless you’re dealing with a Steamer species. Then you’re completely on your own.
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References:
- https://www.wired.com/2014/10/absurd-creature-week-vicious-duck-beats-crap-anything-moves/
- https://www.answers.com/zoology/What_is_the_most_aggressive_duck
Image Credit:
- Facebook.com/Marie Smith
- Facebook.com/Marie Smith
- Facebook.com/Marie Smith
- Facebook.com/MannyPiñol
