African pygmy goose: Difference between revisions

| image_caption = A pairMale in [[Ethiopia]] (female inSouth foreground)Africa

| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 25 September 2021">{{IUCNcite iucn |idauthor1=22680095BirdLife International |date=2016 |title=''Nettapus auritus'' |assessorvolume=BirdLife International2016 |assessor-linkpage=BirdLife Internationale.T22680095A92842795 |versiondoi=201310.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22680095A92842795.2en |year=2012 |accessdateaccess-date=2625 NovemberSeptember 20132021}}</ref>

The '''African pygmy goose ''' ('''''Nettapus auritus''''') is a [[perching duck]] from [[sub-Saharan Africa]]. It is the smallest of Africa's [[wildfowlwaterfowl]], and one of the smallest in the world.<ref>{{cite book |title=Wildfowl |first1=Steve |last1=Madge |first2=Hilary |last2=Burn |publisher=Christopher Helm |location=London |year=1988 |isbn=978-1-4081-3762-8 |page=192 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gFawO8q9VfIC&pg=PA192}}</ref>

Though [[pygmy goose|pygmy geese]] have beaks like those of [[geese]], they are more related to the [[dabbling duck]]s and other species called 'ducks'.<ref name=WAZA>{{cite web|title=African pygmy goose|url=http://www.waza.org/en/zoo/visit-the-zoo/ducks-geese-pelikanes-and-relatives/nettapus-auritus|publisher=World Association of Zoos and Aquariums|accessdateaccess-date=28 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130407010411/http://www.waza.org/en/zoo/visit-the-zoo/ducks-geese-pelikanes-and-relatives/nettapus-auritus|archive-date=7 April 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The African pygmy goose was described by the French polymath [[Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon]] in his ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux'' in 1785.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Buffon | first=Georges-Louis Leclerc de | author-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | year=1785 | title=Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux | volume=Volume 17 | place=Paris | publisher=De L'Imprimerie Royale | page=394 | chapter=La Sarcelle de Madagascar | language=Frenchfr | chapter-url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42298257 }}</ref> The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by [[François-Nicolas Martinet]] in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'' which was produced under the supervision of [[Edme-Louis Daubenton]] to accompany Buffon's text.<ref>{{ cite book | last1=Buffon | first1=Georges-Louis Leclerc de | author1-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | last2=Martinet | first2=François-Nicolas | author2-link=François-Nicolas Martinet | last3=Daubenton | first3=Edme-Louis | author3-link=Edme-Louis Daubenton | last4=Daubenton | first4=Louis-Jean-Marie | author4-link=Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton | year=1765–1783 | chapter=Sarcelle mâle de Madagascar | title=Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle | volume=Volume 8 | place=Paris | publisher=De L'Imprimerie Royale | at=Plate 973 | chapter-url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42298257 }}</ref> Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist [[Pieter Boddaert]] coined the [[binomial name]] ''Anas aurita'' in his catalogue of the ''Planches Enluminées''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Boddaert | first=Pieter | author-link=Pieter Boddaert | year=1783 | title=Table des planches enluminéez d'histoire naturelle de M. D'Aubenton : avec les denominations de M.M. de Buffon, Brisson, Edwards, Linnaeus et Latham, precedé d'une notice des principaux ouvrages zoologiques enluminés | publisher= | place=Utrecht | page=48, Number 770 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27822668 | language=Frenchfr }}</ref> The [[Type locality (biology)|type locality]] is [[Madagascar]].<ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1979 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=Volume 1 | edition=2nd | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=456 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16109096 }}</ref> The current [[genus]] ''[[Nettapus]]'' was erected by the German naturalist [[Johann Friedrich von Brandt]] 1836.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Brandt | first=Johann Friedrich von | author-link=Johann Friedrich von Brandt | year=1836 | title=Descriptiones et icones animalium rossicorum novorum vel minus rite cognitorum | volume=Fasciculus 1: Aves | language=Latin | place=la | publisher=Jussu et sumptibus Academiae Scientiarum | page=5 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53584280 }}</ref> The word ''Nettapus'' is from the Ancient Greek ''nētta'' "duck" and ''pous'' "foot". It was thought that the African pygmy goose possessed the feet and body of a duck and the neck of a goose. The specific ''auritus'' is the Latin word for "eared" or "long-eared".<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url=https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn= 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n62 62], 269 }}</ref> The species is [[monotypic]].<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2017 | title=Screamers, ducks, geese & swans | work=World Bird List Version 7.3 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/waterfowl/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | accessdateaccess-date=7 November 2017 }}</ref>

The African pygmy goose is one of the smallest of the perching [[duck]]s, and it has the average weight of about {{convert|285|g}} for males and {{convert|260|g}} for females. andLength of individual wings wingspansis between {{convert|142| mm}} and {{convert|165|mm}} (not to be confused with wingspan).<ref name=Kear2005>{{cite book | title=Ducks, Geese and Swans: Species accounts (Cairina to Mergus) [Volume 2 of Ducks, Geese and Swans: Species accounts]|first1=Janet|last1=Kear|publisher= Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2005 |page=908 |isbn=9780198610090|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D2K-9k-_EFcC&q=Nettapus#v=snippet&q=Nettapus&f=false}}</ref><br>

The African pygmy goose is known to be [[nomad]]ic. It can be found across a wide area of sub-Saharan [[Africa]] and [[Madagascar]].<ref name=Nature>{{cite web|title=African Pygmy Goose, ''Nettapus auritus''|url=http://www.ontfin.com/Word/african-pygmy-goose-nettapus-auritus/|publisher=Nature Notes|accessdateaccess-date=28 December 2012}}</ref> It lives in habitats of slow flowing or stagnant water with a cover of water lilies (mostly inland wetlands, but also open swamps, farm dens, river pools, and estuaries).<ref name=Explorer>{{cite web|title=Nettapus auritus (African pygmy-goose, Pygmy goose) |url=http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/anatidae/nettapus_auritus.htm |publisher=Biodiversity Explorer |accessdateaccess-date=28 December 2012 |deadurlurl-status=yesdead |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610210829/http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/anatidae/nettapus_auritus.htm |archivedatearchive-date=10 June 2015 }}</ref>

*{{CommonscatCommons category-inline|Nettapus auritus}}