Wetlands animals

Ducks Name of animals: Ducks Ducks habitat: Wetlands, rivers, streams and ponds Consumer: Ducks common food is fish and fish eggs. They also eat mollusc, snails and worms found around water. If they eat plants, they would eat small-berries and fruits, weeds, grass and aquatic plants. Description: Ducks are birds that are related to geese and swans. Ducks are the smallest of them all. Ducks are smaller than geese and swans because they have a shorter neck than geese and swans, ducks also have wings and a stout body. Ducks love water, that’s why they are found in places with water such as ponds, streams, rivers and wetlands. Female ducks are called ducks whereas male ducks are called drakes. Ducks don’t live for a long time. They only live for around 2-12 year, it can be depend on their breed. Ducks have a broad, flat and a row of fine notches along the of their mouth called ‘lamellae’. The ‘lamellae’ helps the ducks grip the food to prevent it from slipping off. The ducks hunting style will depend on the ducks ‘lamellae’ sizes and shape. Ducks have webbed feet the don’t have any nerves or blood vessels inside so it prevent their feet from feeling cold when they swim in icy cold water.

The male Wood ducks have colourful plumage and they use it for attracting females Wood ducks. Males will lose their colourful plumage if they fail to attract females because the females too busy hatching eggs. The males temporarily won’t be able to fly and they will look like the females in colour. Males will once again get their colourful plumage back and be able to fly temporarily in the early fall. The females get their new feathers after their babies or ducklings hatched. Some ducks have a broad and short beaks which is why they don’t dive for food. They are called ‘dabbling ducks’ or ‘dabblers’. They up-end and stretch their head for plants, seeds, grasses, small-insects and animals that they find on or under the water.

Life cycle and Picture

What effect would severe weather cause on the environment? Floods would drown the animals. Even if they did survive of the floods, all the food would be scarce and the animals would swallow the rubbish from the floods.

Food Chain