Chapters 3.2
3.3 Duck
Makinley Boudreault , University of Guelph, Canada
Suggested citation for this chapter.
Boudreault,M. (2022) Fish And Freshwater/Marine Invertebrates. In The Student Encyclopedia of Canadian Indigenous Foods. Editor, M.N. Raizada, University of Guelph, Canada. http://www.firstnationsfoods.org/
Introduction
The duck is one of the most common waterfowl in the world and is easily identified by its webbed feet and flat bill. These qualities are only inhabited by birds in the Anatidae family, which includes ducks as well as swans, geese and other small birds (“Britannica Editors”, N/A). It can often be difficult to determine whether a waterfowl should be identified as a type of duck, goose or swan due to their similarities and the large number of variations between these animals. (Mayntz, 2020). The average duck can weigh anywhere between 1 to 3.5 pounds, however, this number varies depending on the type of duck (What Things Weigh, 2020). According to TargetStudy, the smallest duck weighs only about 0.5 pounds, whereas the largest duck weighs nearly 49 pounds (“TargetStudy”, N/A). Ducks are one of the only species that can be found in almost every country around the world (“A-Z Animals Staff”, N/A). In fact, the only country that the duck is not found in is Antarctica due to the extreme cold temperatures and lack of resources (A-Z Animals Staff, N/A).
History
Ducks have been both hunted and farmed in the past, however they were first hunted nearly 1200 years ago by the Canadian Indigenous peoples (Kuhnlein, N/A). Since ducks migrate from Canada in the winter, they would travel a specific path along the Pacific Northwest (ICT Staff, 2014). Therefore, the Indigenous peoples who lived along this coast were able to hunt and trap the migrating ducks every autumn and spring (ICT Staff, 2014). Also, the ducks were hunted during specific months of the year depending on the tribe that was in that area (Kuhnlein, N/A). In the spring ducks were typically hunted by the Katzie, Kutchin, Hare, Naskapi, Mantagnais of St Lawerence Indigenous groups and in the summer they were only hunted by the Canadian Inuit with Eskimo Point (Kuhnlein, N/A).
The Indigenous people hunted ducks during the molting season when the ducks are unable to fly temporarily (Kuhnlein, N/A). This allows the Indigenous people to hunt the ducks using clubs or spears instead of guns, bows or traps (Kuhnlein, N/A). They would often chase the ducks down in canoes and then hit them over the head with a club or grab them by the neck and strangle them (Kuhnlein, N/A). Eventually duck hunting became more widely accepted by immigrant Canadians as well as people all over the world. This lead to duck farming, which in the United States began in the 1870s when the first four Pekin ducks arrived from China and were transported to Long Island for the very first duck farm in North America (Agnew, 2014). Now, duck hunting and farming are both common practices in North America, although not as popular as other animals such as deer, turkey and goose when it comes to hunting or chicken, cow or pig when it comes to farming.
Species
There are so many types of ducks in the world that it is possible there could be some species that we yet to record. However, according to Melissa Mayntz, there is currently about 130 species of ducks that exist, 17 of them are at risk of lowering in population, and 16 of them are on the endangered list (Mayntz, 2020). The most common of these species is by far the mallard, in 2019 the mallard duck population was roughly 9.4 million all around the world (“Conserving Canada’s Wetlands”, 2019). The mallard duck is so common that it gave decent to nearly every type of domesticated duck (Barnes, N/A). The mallard is known as a “dabbling duck” which is a type of duck that find their food by tipping their heads into the water as opposed to diving under the water which is why they must frequent flooded fields and marshes (Ducks Unlimited, N/A).
Ducks often have colouring that follows a specific pattern, the males or drakes are usually brightly coloured or have some type physical characteristic that will attract females during mating season. On the other hand, majority of the female ducks consist of colouring that will easily blend in with their surroundings so that they can hide from predators and stay alive to protect their young. This colour pattern is seen in almost every species of duck, however in mallards, it’s the males bright green neck and head that allows them to stand out to the females and allow the mallard to be identified in comparison to other ducks. Another example of this colouring pattern can be seen is in the wood duck, in which the male exhibits many bright colours such as reds, greens and blues and the female is simply brown with a speckled appearance (Cornell Lab, N/A). The wood duck is a second to the mallard duck in terms of abundance, especially in Canada and can often be found in wooded area near the water as hinted at in it’s name (Cornell Lab, N/A).
Benefits
Duck is hunted and farmed primarily for its meat, however the feathers, bones, eggs and other parts can be quite beneficial as well, especially since the Indigenous people make sure to use every part of any hunted animal. Although not the most common choice of meat, duck is a very beneficial choice of food for a person. Duck meat can be consumed both raw or cooked, unlike chicken, and is 17% lower in fat than chicken (“Health and Social Services”, N/A). Duck meat is especially high in protein content, about 75 grams of the meat will provide a person with 25% of their daily necessary protein intake (Ratini, 2021). Along with protein and fat, duck meat provides an excellent source of Iron and Omega-3, as well as a good source of omega-6 and a fair source of magnesium (Health and Social Services, N/A). The feathers may be useful for many things as well including, filling bedding and pillows, making arrows, decorating and making crafts (Kuhnlein, N/A). Whereas, the bones may be used for arrowheads, awls and beads (Kuhnlein, N/A). Both the feathers and the bones are mainly used by the indigenous people since when most other people hunt duck they strictly use the duck for the meat.
Duck eggs can also be a significant source of nutrients that is actually very comparable to that of a chicken eggs in terms of most nutrients and can even be considered healthier in some aspects (ETimes, 2020). The average duck egg is about 50 percent larger than the average chicken egg causing the fat content as well as the cholesterol, protein and omega-3 fatty acids to be significantly higher (ETimes, 2020). Duck eggs can also be good for the amount of vitamins they contain to protect against diseases (ETIMES, 2020). For example, duck eggs contain more vitamin A and vitamin B12 than chicken eggs, both of which contain disease protecting properties (ETimes, 2020). Vitamin A is said to maintain healthy eyesight, skin and blood and vitamin B12 that prevents cancer and heart diseases (ETimes, 2020). Duck eggs also contain a large amount of selenium, chlolone and riboflavin all of which have many health benefits for people (ETimes, 2020).
Limitations
Duck meat can be produced either by duck farms or hunting (Hein, 2018). Duck farming although the easier form of producing duck meat in bulk is surprisingly uncommon compared to other livestock farms, like chickens, pigs or cows. Typically, the meat from duck farms is exported to high-end restaurants as opposed to the average consumer through grocery stores which would make it difficult for duck meat to be produced commercially (Hein, 2018). Although there are many health benefits to duck meat and fat, just like any other food they also both have their downfalls which would steer people away from including duck in their everyday diet. For example, duck fat is high in cholesterol which can cause an increase in heart disease and stroke risk (Brennan, 2020). As well, duck fat has a very high calorie count, roughly about 113 calories in one tablespoon, which can cause weight gain (Brennan, 2020). When it comes to the meat, duck is considered to be red meat because of the it has more myoglobin in it than white meat causing the colour of the meat to appear red (Streit, 2020). Most people say that red meat is less healthy than white meat since excessive intake of red meat has been said to lead to increase of cancer risk, specifically colorectal cancer (McAnlis, N/A).
As well as the health issues with the meat and fat, the average consumer may also have problems with ethical issues associated with duck farming and the over hunting of the animals. First of all, duck farms do not treat their animals how the average consumer would like to see them treated. The ducks are not provided with a body of water to live around like they would in the wild, due to their lack of leg joint strength this can frequently result in lameness, dislocation and broken bones (Animals Australia, 2018). As well due to the toxic environment that these birds live in, the ducks are frequently ill or wounded, they tend to get eye-infections or ‘crusty eye’ and anatipestifer disease, these diseases are easily spread due to the poor quality of the environment and failure to quarantine the animal (Animals Australia, 2018). Most of these ethical issues are due to the fact that the farmers want to be able to produce the most amount of product with minimal effort, time and funds.
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