Muscovy duck
Cairina moschata (Linnaeus, 1758)
The muscovy duck (Cairina moschata), also called Muscovy or Barbary duck, is a bird in the waterfowl subgroup, belonging to the family Anatidae in the order Anseriformes. It is a medium-sized, sedentary omnivore of wetland habitats with a generalist lifestyle, and adults weigh 2.4 kg, with reported values from 1.25 to 3 kg.
.JPG){kind=link}
Quick facts about the muscovy duck
Clutches hold 11 eggs, with 1.5 clutches per year and an incubation period of 34 days. The IUCN Red List assesses it globally as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category, and its geographic range covers 14,190,000 km².
- Weight
- 1.25 kg – 3 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 34 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 11src for Young per litter or clutch
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1.5src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Generalistsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the muscovy duck
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the muscovy duck live?
Not recorded
What is the muscovy duck?
The Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata) is a species of duck native to the Americas, from the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Mexico south to Argentina and Uruguay. The species has been domesticated, and feral Muscovy ducks can be found locally in New Zealand, Australia, the United States, and in Central and Eastern Europe.
From the Wikipedia article “Muscovy duck” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Muscovy_duck&oldid=1383027036), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the muscovy duck sound like?
Is the muscovy duck endangered?
The muscovy duck is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the muscovy duck classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderAnseriformes
- familyAnatidae
- genusCairina
- SpeciesCairina moschata (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Anas moschata, Cairina muschata
Other names and names in other languages (87)
- Barbary duckEnglish
- MuscovyEnglish
- Muskovy duckEnglish
- MakouAfrikaans
- بط موسكوفيArabic
- بطة موسكوفيةArabic
- Müşk ördəyiAzerbaijani
- Мускусна патицаBulgarian
- Houad mutBreton
- ànec mutCatalan
- Ànnera MudaCatalan
- ᏙᎦᏏCherokee
- pižmovka americkáCzech
- pižmovka velkáCzech
- Hwyaden FwsgWelsh
- MoskusandDanish
- MoschusenteGerman
- Moschus-EnteGerman
- Πάπια ΒαβαρίαςGreek
- MoskanasoEsperanto
- moska anasoEsperanto
- Pato realSpanish
- BragadoSpanish
- Pato criolloSpanish
- muskuspartEstonian
- Cairina moschataBasque
- myskisorsaFinnish
- Canard musquéFrench
- Cairina musquéFrench
- Canard de BarbarieFrench
- musclachaIrish
- Laagh vuskaghScottish Gaelic
- Ype guasuGuarani
- ברברHebrew
- ברווז מוסקוביHebrew
- pézsmaréceHungarian
- MentokIndonesian
- EntokIndonesian
- Itik SeratiIndonesian
- MoskusöndIcelandic
- Anatra mutaItalian
- Anatra muschiataItalian
- ノバリケンJapanese
- バリケンJapanese
- MenthokJavanese
- БабыщбзагуэKabardian
- Ысылдақ үйрекKazakh
- 머스코비Korean
- 머스코비오리Korean
- 모스코비Korean
- 사향오리Korean
- 머스코비오리(야생종)Korean
- Muskusinė antisLithuanian
- paprastoji muskusinė antisLithuanian
- muskuspīleLatvian
- fuco-suleMuscogee
- knoppandNorwegian Bokmål
- muskuseendDutch
- Barbarie-eendDutch
- Barbarijse EendDutch
- Pato MuscovyPapiamento
- piżmówkaPolish
- Kaczka piżmowaPolish
- Piżmówka amerykańskaPolish
- pato-mudoPortuguese
- pato-do-matoPortuguese
- Pato-selvagemPortuguese
- Rața leșeascăRomanian
- Rață leșeascăRomanian
- Мускусная уткаRussian
- pižmovka leskláSlovak
- moškatna bleščavkaSlovenian
- Mošusna patkaSerbian
- Мошусна паткаSerbian
- bus'doksiSranan Tongo
- myskandSwedish
- เป็ดเทศThai
- Moskof ÖrdeğiTurkish
- Amerikan ÖrdeğiTurkish
- Мускусна качкаUkrainian
- качка мускуснаUkrainian
- Ngan bướu mũiVietnamese
- קאטשקע (מאסקאווי)Yiddish
- 疣鼻栖鸭Chinese
- 番鴨Chinese
- 疣鼻棲鴨Chinese
- 紅面番鴨Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the muscovy duck
Other species in the same family Anatidae.
Mallard
Anas platyrhynchos
Greylag goose
Anser anser
Northern pintail
Anas acuta
Mute swan
Cygnus olor
Eurasian teal
Anas crecca
Ruddy shelduck
Tadorna ferruginea
CompareMuscovy duck vs MallardMuscovy duck vs Greylag gooseMuscovy duck vs Northern pintailMuscovy duck vs Mute swan
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the muscovy duck?
The muscovy duck is a bird in the waterfowl subgroup. It belongs to the family Anatidae, order Anseriformes, and genus Cairina.
How heavy is a muscovy duck?
Adult Muscovy ducks weigh 2.4 kg, with reported values from 1.25 to 3 kg. This places them in the medium size class.
What does the muscovy duck eat?
The muscovy duck is an omnivore with a generalist foraging lifestyle.
Is the muscovy duck endangered?
No. The IUCN Red List assesses the muscovy duck globally as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
How many eggs does a muscovy duck lay?
A muscovy duck clutch holds 11 eggs, with 1.5 clutches per year. The eggs are incubated for 34 days.
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 - 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). - 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). Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/muscovy-duck
“Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/muscovy-duck.
@misc{muscovy_duck_2026,
title = {Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/muscovy-duck},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}