{"id":33005,"date":"2023-10-23T13:59:42","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T11:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1c80fc2c-3913-4b46-99e5-78bde4533faf"},"modified":"2023-10-23T14:35:42","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T12:35:42","slug":"worlds-rarest-duck-returns-to-ancestral-home","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/worlds-rarest-duck-returns-to-ancestral-home\/","title":{"rendered":"‘World\u2019s\u00a0rarest\u00a0duck’\u00a0returns to ancestral home"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Madagascar pochard, previously thought to have been extinct, has returned to its ancestral home on Lake Alaotra in Madagascar, where it was last seen more than 30 years ago. <\/p>

By BBC Wildlife Magazine\n <\/p>

Published: Monday, 23 October 2023 at 11:59 AM<\/p>

\n\n

A small group of Madagascar pochard, thought to be the world’s rarest duck, have been spotted at Lake Alaotra in Madagascar<\/a> for the first time in over 30 years.<\/p>

The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust<\/a> confirmed that the birds arrived from Lake Sofia 300km away, where a breeding programme has been running since 2009.<\/p>

How to save one of the world\u2019s rarest ducks<\/a><\/li><\/ul>
The\u00a0rare\u00a0diving\u00a0duck, endemic to the inland wetlands of Madagascar, was declared \u2018probably extinct\u2019 in 2004, before a tiny population was discovered on a remote lake in 2006.<\/p>
The Trust hopes that the\u00a0ducks, known locally as Fotsimaso, will now settle at Lake Alaotra, where the team are monitoring them to try and understand more about their diet, how they reproduce, their favoured habitat and behaviour patterns.<\/p>