Paradise shelduck
Tadorna variegata (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)
The paradise shelduck (Tadorna variegata) is a species in the family Anatidae, order Anseriformes. Recorded adults weigh 1.39 kg to 1.71 kg and live up to 11.2 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the paradise shelduck
- Weight
- 1.39 kg – 1.71 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 11.2 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- grasslandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 30 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 9src for Young per litter or clutch
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Photos of the paradise shelduck
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the paradise shelduck 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 paradise shelduck is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the paradise shelduck?
The paradise shelduck (Tadorna variegata), also known as the paradise duck, or pūtangitangi in Māori, is a species of shelduck, a group of goose-like ducks, which is endemic to New Zealand. Johann Friedrich Gmelin placed it in the genus Anas with the ducks, geese, and swans. Both the male and female have striking plumages: the male has a black head and barred black body and the female has a white head with a chestnut body. They weigh between 1.09 and 2 kg (2.4 and 4.4 lb) and are between 63 and 71 cm (25 and 28 in) in length.
Paradise shelducks mate for life and usually live as pairs, and moult their feathers from December to February. They are primarily herbivorous, and mostly graze on pasture grasses and clover, but have been observed eating a wide range of invertebrates. They are seasonally hunted as a game bird throughout New Zealand, and today the IUCN Red List classifies them as a species of least concern.
From the Wikipedia article “Paradise shelduck” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paradise_shelduck&oldid=1374631784), 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 paradise shelduck sound like?
Is the paradise shelduck endangered?
The paradise shelduck 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 paradise shelduck classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderAnseriformes
- familyAnatidae
- genusTadorna
- SpeciesTadorna variegata (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)
Synonyms Anas cheneros, Anas variegata, Casarca variegata, Tadorna variegate variegate
Other names and names in other languages (42)
- Paradise duckEnglish
- Paradise/New Zealand shelduckEnglish
- PariEnglish
- ParrieEnglish
- PutangitangiEnglish
- شهرمان الجنةArabic
- ànec maoriCatalan
- husice rajskáCzech
- hwyaden fraith Seland NewyddWelsh
- ParadisgravandDanish
- ParadiesgansGerman
- Paradies-KasarkaGerman
- ParadieskasarkaGerman
- paradiza tadornoEsperanto
- Tarro maoríSpanish
- paradiisipartEstonian
- paratiisisorsaFinnish
- Tadorne de paradisFrench
- Tadorne de Nouvelle-ZélandeFrench
- novozelandska utvaCroatian
- új-zélandi ásólúdHungarian
- Casarca del paradisoItalian
- クロアカツクシガモJapanese
- Naujosios Zelandijos urvinė antisLithuanian
- PūtangitangiMāori
- рајска утваMacedonian
- ParadijscasarcaDutch
- paradijscascaraDutch
- maorirustandNorwegian
- kazarka rajskaPolish
- tadorna-maoriPortuguese
- pato-do-paraísoPortuguese
- Tadorna-paraísoPortuguese
- Новозеландский огарьRussian
- Новозеландская пеганкаRussian
- kazarka rajskáSlovak
- Rajska utvaSerbian
- Yeni Zelanda AngıtıTurkish
- огар новозеландськийUkrainian
- 天堂鴨Chinese
- 黑胸麻鴨Chinese
- 黑胸麻鸭Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the paradise shelduck
Other species in the same genus Tadorna.
Ruddy shelduck
Tadorna ferruginea
Common shelduck
Tadorna tadorna
Australian shelduck
Tadorna tadornoides
South African shelduck
Tadorna cana
Crested shelduck
Tadorna cristata
CompareParadise shelduck vs Ruddy shelduckParadise shelduck vs Common shelduckParadise shelduck vs Australian shelduckParadise shelduck vs South African shelduck
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the paradise shelduck?
An adult paradise shelduck weighs 1.39 kg – 1.71 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the paradise shelduck live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the paradise shelduck for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the paradise shelduck endangered?
The paradise shelduck is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the paradise shelduck live?
The paradise shelduck has a recorded lifespan of 11.2 years.
What kind of animal is the paradise shelduck?
The paradise shelduck (Tadorna variegata) 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 - 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).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Paradise shelduck (Tadorna variegata). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/paradise-shelduck
“Paradise shelduck (Tadorna variegata).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/paradise-shelduck.
@misc{paradise_shelduck_2026,
title = {Paradise shelduck (Tadorna variegata)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/paradise-shelduck},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}