Labrador Duck
Fast facts
- Conservation status
- Extinct
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Genus
- Camptorhynchus
Scientific name
- Scientific name
- Camptorhynchus labradorius
How to say it in other languages
- Arabic
- بط لابرادور
- Chinese
- 拉布拉多鴨
- Dutch
- Labradoreend
- French
- Eider du Labrador
- German
- Labradorente
- Italian
- Anatra del Labrador
- Japanese
- カササギガモ
- Korean
- 까치오리
- Portuguese
- Pato-do-labrador
- Russian
- Лабрадорская гага
- Spanish
- Pato del Labrador
Facts from Wikipedia’s “Labrador duck” page and Wikispecies (CC BY-SA 4.0).
The Labrador duck (Camptorhynchus labradorius) is an extinct duck that lived in North America.
Habitat
The Labrador duck lived along the sandy coasts and bays of New Jersey and New England. Audubon’s son reported seeing a nest belonging to the species. Some believe that it may have laid its eggs on the islands in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It was a rare bird before European settlement, and the increase in humans probably finished it off.
Extinction
The duck became extinct after settlers became common along the eastern coast of North America. The reasons are not clear. The duck was eaten, although its flesh tasted bad. its eggs were probably harvested. It depended considerably on shellfish, which humans may have eaten in large quantities.
Written for younger readers
Labrador Duck, in simpler words
This version comes from Wikijunior, a set of books written for children aged 8 to 11. It is shorter and uses plainer language than the article above.
From Wikijunior: Extinct Birds
The Camptorhynchus labradorius (Labrador Duck) is a North American bird which went extinct in 1875/1878. It was already a rare duck before European settlers arrived and decreased the population. Since they are extinct, we do not have a lot of information on Labrador Ducks. But we still managed to get a good grab of information on Labrador Ducks, such as its habitat, characteristics, and the reason why the Labrador Ducks went extinct.
The Labrador ducks went extinct due to food shortages (little to no shellfish and crustaceans, which are the main duck’s food). Hunting was most likely not the case, as the duck tasted horribly and would rot quickly.
- Long bills (for scooping up their prey)
- Usually brown, maybe white/dark on the head.
- They had a short, but thick neck (to possibly help them to swallow their prey).
- Their feet were short (somewhat like a frog).
- Tail was brownish black.
This extinct species was only found in North America, specifically Nova Scotia South to the Chesapeake Bay, USA. These birds can be found in sandy/watery-like habitats, specifically bays, lakes, inlets, harbours, and estuaries.
The Labrador Duck ate small mollusks, shellfish, and crustaceans, as the bill shape suggests. It may have also eaten snails to survive if they didn’t have mollusks or shellfish around. Most of these foods are found in lakes, bays, and inlets. This is why Labrador Ducks were found in areas like lakes and bays.
The shellfish and crustaceans would be usually found in shallow water, while the snails could be found on the wet sand (from the water areas, or when it has rain).
Where this page comes from
The article above is adapted from “Labrador Duck” on Simple English Wikipedia, by its contributors. We removed reference markers, navigation boxes and tables, expanded measurement templates into readable numbers, and kept the prose otherwise intact. The simpler version is adapted from Wikijunior on Wikibooks.
Both sources are published under CC BY-SA 4.0, so this page is published under the same licence. You may share and adapt it, including commercially, as long as you credit the original and keep the same licence.
Worksheets, answer keys and printable layouts elsewhere on K5Print are our own work and are not covered by this licence.