Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species was found on Amsterdam and St Paul Island, French Southern Territories, but it is now Extinct having not been seen since 1793. Hunting and introduced rats were the main cause of its extinction.
Population justification
No extant population remains.
Trend justification
It is only known from bones "no more than a few hundred years old". A report of "a small brown duck, not much larger than a thrush" from Barrow's 1793 visit to the neighbouring St Paul Island presumably refers to the same or a similar species (Olson and Jouventin 1996). It is thought to have become extinct soon after the last report in 1793.
Anas marecula was endemic to Amsterdam Island and St Paul Island, French Southern Territories (Hume 2017).
It was flightless, and is likely to have inhabited small freshwater pools and lakes (Hume 2017).
It was presumably hunted to extinction by whalers stopping off on the island (Olson and Jouventin 1996). The island was also infested by rats by the time naturalists visited Amsterdam Island in 1874 (Hume 2017), which presumably contributed to its extinction.
Text account compilers
Khwaja, N., Brooks, T., Mahood, S., Richardson, L.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Amsterdam Duck Anas marecula. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/amsterdam-duck-anas-marecula on 26/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 26/11/2024.