CreatureData

Musk duck

Biziura lobata (Shaw, 1796)

LCLeast Concernwaterfowl

The musk duck (Biziura lobata) is a species in the family Anatidae, order Anseriformes. Recorded adults weigh 1.55 kg to 2.4 kg. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Musk duck (Biziura lobata)
Photo: JJ Harrison ( https://www.jjharrison.com.au/ ) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the musk duck

Weight
1.55 kg – 2.4 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
wetlandsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
2.4 – 2.8src for Young per litter or clutch
Litters or clutches a year
1src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle
Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Partialsrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the musk duck live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The musk duck is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the musk duck?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The musk duck (Biziura lobata) is a highly aquatic, stiff-tailed duck native to southern Australia. It is the only living member of the genus Biziura. An extinct relative, the New Zealand musk duck or de Lautour's duck (B. delautouri), once occurred on New Zealand, but is only known from prehistoric subfossil bones. It was about 8% longer than the living species, with a particularly large head.

This animal derives its common name from the peculiar musky odour it emanates during the breeding season. Musk ducks are moderately common through the Murray-Darling and Cooper Creek basins, and in the wetter, fertile areas in the south of the continent: the southwest corner of Western Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania.

From the Wikipedia article “Musk duck” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Musk_duck&oldid=1381941901), 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.

Is the musk duck endangered?

The musk duck is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the musk duck classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderAnseriformes
  5. familyAnatidae
  6. genusBiziura
  7. SpeciesBiziura lobata (Shaw, 1796)

Synonyms Biziura exhumata, Biziura lobata westralis, Biziura novaehollandiae, Dendrocygna validipennis, Dendrocygna validipinnis

Other names and names in other languages (35)
  • بط المسكArabic
  • Ànec paputCatalan
  • ànec de papadaCatalan
  • kachnice laločnatáCzech
  • hwyaden labedogWelsh
  • BisamandDanish
  • LappenenteGerman
  • MoschusruderenteGerman
  • lobanasoEsperanto
  • Malvasía papudaSpanish
  • Pato almizcleroSpanish
  • lottpartEstonian
  • helttasorsaFinnish
  • Biziure à barbillonsFrench
  • Érismature à barbillonsFrench
  • siva čakoraCroatian
  • lebernyeges réceHungarian
  • Gobbo muschiatoItalian
  • Anatra muschiata australianaItalian
  • ニオイガモJapanese
  • dirrindankgs
  • tasmaninė antisLithuanian
  • Australische LobeendDutch
  • Australische MuskuseendDutch
  • pungandNorwegian
  • bisiorkaPolish
  • pato-de-papadaPortuguese
  • pato-de-rabo-alçado-almiscaradoPortuguese
  • Лопастная уткаRussian
  • laločnica potápaváSlovak
  • Režnjevita patkaSerbian
  • Misk ÖrdeğiTurkish
  • савка сіраUkrainian
  • 麝鴨Chinese
  • 麝鸭Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the musk duck

Other species in the same genus Biziura.

CompareMusk duck vs Hygrobates intermediusMusk duck vs Hygrobates pilosusMusk duck vs Hygrobates robustipalpisMusk duck vs Hygrobates salamandrarum

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the musk duck?

An adult musk duck weighs 1.55 kg – 2.4 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the musk duck live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the musk duck for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the musk duck endangered?

The musk duck is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the musk duck?

The musk duck (Biziura lobata) 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.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Musk duck (Biziura lobata). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/musk-duck

MLA

“Musk duck (Biziura lobata).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/musk-duck.

BibTeX
@misc{musk_duck_2026,
  title = {Musk duck (Biziura lobata)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/musk-duck},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}