page_title: Domestic duck
section_title: Domestication
hierarchical_section_title: Domestic duck / Domestication
caption_attribution_description: English: Egyptian faience is a composite material composed of ground quartz and natron (sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate). Most faience is glazed in a vivid blue or green color; the polychrome faience seen here is much more complicated to produce. The duck was mold-made together with the remains of its ring handle on the bird's left side. The surface of the body displays a raised dot pattern, while the end of the wings have a feather pattern. The form may have been inspired by the red-figure duck vases of Etruria and south Italy. The duck is depicted with such detailed naturalism that the underside even has delicately modeled webbed feet.
context_page_description: Domestic ducks are ducks that are raised for meat, eggs and down. Many ducks are also kept for show, as pets, or for their ornamental value. Almost all varieties of domestic duck apart from the Muscovy duck are descended from the mallard.
context_section_description: Mallard ducks were first domesticated in Southeast Asia at least 4000 years ago, during the Neolithic Age, and were also farmed by the Romans in Europe, and the Malays in Asia. In ancient Egypt, ducks were captured in nets and then bred in captivity. During the Ming Dynasty, the Peking duck—mallards force-fed on grains, making them larger— was known to have good genetic characteristics.
  Almost all varieties of domestic duck except the muscovy have been derived from the mallard. Domestication has greatly altered their characteristics. Domestic ducks are mostly polygamous, where wild mallards are monogamous. Domestic ducks have lost the mallard's territorial behaviour, and are less aggressive than mallards. Despite these differences, domestic ducks frequently mate with wild mallard, producing fully fertile hybrid offspring.
caption: Ducks were common in Ancient Egypt, as depicted in this 3rd century BC faience vase.
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