Cape shelduck
Tadorna cana (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)
Status not recordedwaterfowl
The cape shelduck (Tadorna cana) is a species in the family Anatidae, order Anseriformes. Recorded adults weigh 1.18 kg to 1.76 kg and live up to 10.1 years.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the cape shelduck
- Weight
- 1.18 kg – 1.76 kg
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 10.1 years
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetland
- Egg incubation
- 30 days
- Young per litter or clutch
- 9.75
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrial
- Migration
- Partial
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the cape shelduck live?
Not recorded
Is the cape shelduck endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the cape shelduck classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderAnseriformes
- familyAnatidae
- genusTadorna
- SpeciesTadorna cana (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)
Synonyms Anas cana, Casarca cana
Other names and names in other languages (45)
- African shelduckEnglish
- Cape/South African shelduckEnglish
- SASHEnglish
- South African shelduckEnglish
- BergeendAfrikaans
- شهرمان جنوب أفريقاArabic
- ànec sud-africàCatalan
- husice šedohlaváCzech
- hwyaden fraith y PenrhynWelsh
- Sydafrikansk GravandDanish
- KapgansGerman
- sudafrika tadornoEsperanto
- Tarro sudafricanoSpanish
- kapi tulipartEstonian
- kapinsorsaFinnish
- Tadorne du CapFrench
- קזרקה דרום-אפריקניתHebrew
- južnoafrička utvaCroatian
- szürkefejű ásólúdHungarian
- Casarca del SudafricaItalian
- ネズミガシラツクシガモJapanese
- pilkagalvė urvinė antisLithuanian
- Kaapse casarcaDutch
- kapprustandNorwegian
- kazarka szarogłowaPolish
- tadorna-africanaPortuguese
- Капский огарьRussian
- kazarka sivohlaváSlovak
- Kapska utvaSerbian
- gråhuvad rostandSwedish
- Gri Başlı AngıtTurkish
- огар сіроголовийUkrainian
- 灰头麻鸭Chinese
- KopereendAfrikaans
- Kopereend (Bergeend)Afrikaans
- Graukopf-KasarkaGerman
- GraukopfkasarkaGerman
- Tadorne à tête griseFrench
- Afrikaanse bergeendDutch
- pato-de-cabeça-cinzentaPortuguese
- Tadorna-do-caboPortuguese
- tadorna-sul-africanaPortuguese
- Сероголовый огарьRussian
- Южноафриканский огарьRussian
- 灰頭麻鴨Chinese
Relatives of the cape shelduck
Other species in the same genus Tadorna.
Ruddy shelduck
Tadorna ferruginea
Common shelduck
Tadorna tadorna
Mountain duck
Tadorna tadornoides
Pari
Tadorna variegata
Crested shelduck
Tadorna cristata
CompareCape shelduck vs Ruddy shelduckCape shelduck vs Common shelduckCape shelduck vs Mountain duckCape shelduck vs Pari
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the cape shelduck?
An adult cape shelduck weighs 1.18 kg – 1.76 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
How long does the cape shelduck live?
The cape shelduck has a recorded lifespan of 10.1 years.
What kind of animal is the cape shelduck?
The cape shelduck (Tadorna cana) belongs to the family Anatidae in the order Anseriformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Cape shelduck (Tadorna cana). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/cape-shelduck
“Cape shelduck (Tadorna cana).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/cape-shelduck.
@misc{cape_shelduck_2026,
title = {Cape shelduck (Tadorna cana)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/cape-shelduck},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}