Mallard vs Smew
The mallard is heavier: 843.4 g against 608.5 g for the smew, about 39% more.
Photo: Calibas (edit by Aqwis ) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Andreas Trepte · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
What is the difference between a mallard and a smew?
Each point below is worked out from a pair of recorded values.
- The mallard is heavier: 843.4 g against 608.5 g for the smew, about 39% more.
- The mallard is longer-lived: 29 years against 10 years for the smew, about 2.9 times the lifespan.
- They share the family Anatidae but sit in different genera: Mallard in Anas, Smew in Mergellus.
- Both are listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
Side by side
| Mallard | Smew | |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Anas platyrhynchos | Mergellus albellus |
| Family | Anatidae | Anatidae |
| Order | Anseriformes | Anseriformes |
| Weight | 843.4 g – 1.21 kg | 568 g – 667.2 g |
| Length | 50 cm – 65 cm | Not recorded |
| Lifespan | 29 years | 10 years |
| Main food | anisoptera, arthropod, beetle, caddisfly, gastropoda, insect and 4 more | Not recorded |
| Habitat | wetland | wetland |
| Conservation status | Least Concern | Least Concern |
| Countries recorded | 1 | Not recorded |
A scale drawing needs a recorded length for both animals; only weights are on record for this pair.