Ducklings following the first thing they see

The Muscovy duck is…

A different species from the Americas

Pekin Duck

Anas platyrhynchos domesticus

The American Pekin is a large, all-white domestic duck. It descends from ducks shipped from China to New York in 1873 and, like most farm ducks, belongs to the same species as the wild mallard, Anas platyrhynchos. Calm and fast-growing, it is mostly raised for meat, and is also kept for eggs and as a pet.

Also known as American Pekin, Long Island duck, White Pekin

Pekin duck abilities

Day 1 ducklings swim from hatching
Pekins swim by paddling with their webbed feet, and their ducklings can swim on the day they hatch.
- Pekin feathers are looser and fluffier than most ducks’ and get messy in wet, muddy pens, so clean water matters.
- Ducks are waterfowl: swimming, bathing and dipping their heads in water are part of how they keep clean.
- European food-safety scientists list “access to water to fulfil biological needs” as a key welfare factor for farmed ducks.
Sources [2, 7, 10, 17]
Touch feeds in murky water by feel
A dabbling duck pumps water through its bill and keeps the food, using comb-like ridges along the edges as a sieve.
- Dabbling ducks feed at the water’s surface, pumping water through the bill and filtering out bits of food.
- The fine ridges (lamellae) are best developed in filter-feeding ducks.
- Duck bills are packed with touch sensors. In ducks, the extra touch nerve cells come at the expense of cells that sense temperature.
Sources [2, 3, 4]
3 months without oil before it fails
Water beads up and rolls off a duck’s back. The secret is mostly the tiny structure of the feathers, kept in good shape by preen oil.
- Scientists blocked mallards’ access to their preen oil. After 3 months their feathers were in worse condition and held more water.
- After only 10 days there was no difference, so the oil maintains the feathers rather than simply “greasing” them.
- The study concluded that the feathers’ microstructure is essential for waterproofing.
Sources [9]
24.8% of ducks wet-preening with a pool (5.5% without)
On the back, at the base of the tail, sits the preen gland. It makes the oil a duck spreads through its feathers when it preens.
- In white farm ducklings raised for 6 weeks without a pool, the preen gland grew smaller and made less oil.
- With a pool, about 24.8% of ducks were seen wet-preening, against 5.5% without one.
- Pekin ducks given simple “preening cups” of water also wet-preened more.
Ducks seen wet-preening
With a pool24.8%
Without a pool5.5%
Sanshui White ducklings over 6 weeks (Mi et al. 2020).
Sources [8, 10, 18]
Hens make the classic quack
The loud “QUACK quack quack” is the female’s call. Drakes have a different voice box, with an extra bony chamber.
- The hen’s decrescendo call fades as it goes, and she uses it to call other ducks or her ducklings to her.
- Male ducks have a hollow bony bulla on the left side of the syrinx, their voice organ, which females lack.
- A 2025 study suggests the bulla acts as a resonator that shapes the drake’s courtship calls. Young ducklings of both sexes sound much alike.
Sources [12, 13, 14]
150+ eggs a year
A Pekin hen can lay more than 150 white eggs a year, many more than a wild mallard lays in one nest. But she rarely sits on them.
- Pekins rarely go broody, so farmers and keepers hatch the eggs in incubators.
- A wild mallard hen usually lays 9–13 eggs in a nest on the ground near water.
- Pekin hens care where they lay: in one test, half of them pushed a door weighted with up to 120% of their own body weight to reach a nest of sawdust.
How many eggs?
Pekin hen, one year150+
Mallard hen, one nest9–13
Different measures: a whole year of laying vs one wild clutch.
Sources [1, 2, 12, 19]
3.5 kg+ in about 7 weeks
Pekins grow astonishingly fast: from a duckling that fits in your hand to more than 3.5 kg in about seven weeks.
- That is two to five times the weight of an adult wild mallard (0.7–1.6 kg).
- Farm Pekins are usually raised for about six weeks; one study measured them to day 43.
- Part of the speed is genetic: one change near the IGF2BP1 gene makes Pekins about 15% bigger.
Weight
Pekin at 7 weeks3.5 kg+
Adult wild mallard0.7–1.6 kg
Sources [1, 5, 7, 18]
1930s imprinting first described
Newly hatched ducklings follow the first moving thing they see and treat it like their mother. This is imprinting.
- Konrad Lorenz showed in the 1930s that incubator-hatched birds follow whatever they first catch sight of. He later shared a Nobel Prize for work on animal behaviour.
- In 2016, ducklings of domesticated mallards that saw two matching (or two different) objects later chose to follow new pairs with the same relation.
- Some scientists questioned how that 2016 result should be read, and the authors replied, so that part is still discussed.
Sources [15, 16]

Tap a pin on the model or a part below.

Touch finds food without looking
- The bill is yellow to orange, fairly short and almost straight.
- Its edges carry rows of fine comb-like ridges (lamellae, or pectens). Dabbling ducks use them to sieve food from water, to hold slippery food and to preen.
- Ducks have many more large touch-sensing nerve cells serving the bill than birds that hunt by sight, so they can feed in murky water by feel.
Sources [1, 2, 3, 4]
1 gene key to the white down
- Pekins are creamy white all over. A 2018 genetics study traced their white down to a change in one gene, MITF, which helps make colour pigment.
- Their feathers are looser and fluffier than those of most ducks, so they get messy fast in wet, muddy pens.
- In drakes of mallard-type ducks, the middle tail feathers curl upwards (the “drake feather”).
Sources [1, 2, 5, 6, 7]
3 months without oil before feathers suffer
- A gland on the back at the base of the tail makes preen oil, which the duck spreads through its feathers as it preens.
- Mallards kept from their oil for 3 months had scruffier plumage that held more water. After only 10 days there was no change.
- White farm ducks raised without a pool to bathe in grew smaller preen glands that made less oil.
Sources [8, 9, 10]
≈4 kg a lot to lift
- Pekins are in the heavy class of duck breeds: adult drakes weigh 4 kg (9 lb) or more.
- Many domestic duck breeds no longer fly well, and heavy breeds like the Pekin are slow, “ploddish” birds.
- Their wild ancestor, the mallard, weighs only 0.7–1.6 kg and flies strongly on wings 81–98 cm across.
Sources [2, 7]
Day 1 ducklings can swim
- Legs and feet are a yellowish to light orange, with webs between the toes for paddling.
- Mallard-type ducklings can swim as soon as they hatch.
- Birds can cool their legs below the temperature of their feathers in cold weather, which saves body heat, and warm them up to shed heat when it is hot.
Sources [1, 2, 7, 11]
Hens make the loud quack
- The familiar loud “quack” comes from females. It is called the decrescendo or hail call, because it gets softer as it goes and calls other ducks and ducklings over.
- A bird’s voice box is the syrinx. Male ducks have an extra bony bubble on its left side, called the bulla, which females don’t have.
- Scientists think the bulla works like a resonating chamber that shapes the drake’s courtship calls.
Sources [12, 13, 14]
+6% feed efficiency from one gene
- Ducks of this species are omnivores: they eat plants, seeds and grain, insects, worms, snails and other small animals.
- Pekins turn feed into body weight efficiently, one reason farmers like them.
- In Pekins, a change near the IGF2BP1 gene keeps it working after hatching, which makes ducks about 15% bigger and 6% more feed-efficient.
Sources [1, 2, 5, 12]
1st thing seen becomes “mum”
- In the 1930s Konrad Lorenz showed that birds hatched in an incubator follow whatever they first see. This is called imprinting.
- Most Pekin ducklings hatch in incubators, so the first thing they see may be a person or another duckling.
- Ducklings learn more than a face: in a 2016 study they imprinted on whether two objects were the same or different.
Sources [1, 2, 15, 16]

Real Pekin ducks

Photos from Wikimedia Commons, including their wild cousin the mallard. Pick a look to repaint the 3D model.

Pekin drake (male)Creamy white all over with a yellow to orange bill and orange feet. Like other mallard-type drakes, he has curled feathers in the middle of his tail.Heavy class: adult drakes weigh 4 kg or moreAn American Pekin drake. Photo: Paul-Erwin Oswald, CC BY 3.0
American Pekin ducks in GermanyPhoto: Martin Backert, CC BY-SA 3.0
Pekin ducks on the Duck Pond in Perry, FloridaPhoto: The Bushranger, CC BY-SA 4.0
Pekin ducksPhoto: Katie Chodil, CC BY 2.0
DucklingSoft, pale down (white to yellow), without the black back of a wild mallard duckling, which is black above and yellow below.Can swim on hatching day and reaches 3.5 kg+ in about 7 weeksPekin ducklings. Photo: Nithisha Vasudevan, CC BY 4.0
DucklingSoft, pale down (white to yellow), without the black back of a wild mallard duckling, which is black above and yellow below.Can swim on hatching day and reaches 3.5 kg+ in about 7 weeksA newly hatched Pekin duckling. Photo: Jumpingmaniac, Public domain
Pekins with their wild cousins, mallards, in Georgia, USAPhoto: Michael Rivera, CC BY-SA 4.0
Mallard (wild ancestor)Drakes have a glossy green head and a yellowish bill; hens are mottled brown. Both weigh only 0.7–1.6 kg and fly well.Same species as the Pekin. Least Concern on the IUCN Red ListA mallard drake, the Pekin’s wild ancestor, in Poland. Photo: Jacek Halicki, CC BY-SA 4.0
Mallard (wild ancestor)Drakes have a glossy green head and a yellowish bill; hens are mottled brown. Both weigh only 0.7–1.6 kg and fly well.Same species as the Pekin. Least Concern on the IUCN Red ListA mallard hen in Locarno, Switzerland. Photo: Commonists, CC BY-SA 4.0

Pekin duck by the numbers

Figures from breed guides and scientific studies, with comparisons you can picture.

Adult drake: ≈4 kg; heavy class: 4 kg (9 lb) or more; Pekin drake4 kgMallard (average)1.08 kg; About 4 times an average wild mallard⁠[2, 12]
Growth: 3.5 kg+; in about 7 weeks⁠[1]
Eggs: 150+; white eggs a year per hen⁠[1, 2]
Wild mallard clutch: 9–13; eggs in one nest⁠[12]
Voyage to America: 124 days; 9 of 15 ducks survived the trip, reaching New York in March 1873⁠[1]
Official breed: 1874; in the first American Poultry Association Standard⁠[1, 2]
One gene’s effect: +15%; body size from a change near IGF2BP1⁠[5]
Domesticated: ≈3,000 years; ago in China, possibly earlier⁠[1]
Nest motivation: 6 of 12; hens pushed a door weighted with up to 120% of their body weight to reach sawdust⁠[19]
Farmed for meat: 200 million+; ducks a year in the US and EU alone⁠[22]

Pekin duck myths and facts

Tap Myth or Fact for each claim, then check the answer.

0 of 8 answered

“Pekin ducks are a different species from mallards.”
“Ducks stay waterproof only because their feathers are oily.”
“The loud “quack” comes from female ducks.”
“Pekin ducks fly as well as wild mallards.”
“Ducklings follow the first moving thing they see.”
“Muscovy ducks are just another breed of Pekin.”
“Pekin hens are keen to sit on their eggs.”
“A change in a single gene helps make Pekin ducks white.”

Pekin duck records

Superlatives and record holders, each checked against its source.

The top commercial duck
Raised “almost exclusively for market”
American Pekin
A poultry breed guide says the Pekin is to ducks what the Cornish-Rock cross is to chickens. Big breeding lines include Maple Leaf, Cherry Valley and Nankou Pekins.⁠[2, 24]
Ancestor of most farm ducks
Most domestic breeds
Mallard
All domestic ducks except Muscovies are thought to come from the mallard.⁠[2, 7]
Fast grower
3.5 kg+ in 7 weeks
American Pekin
From hatching to more than double an adult mallard’s top weight in under two months.⁠[1, 7]
One of America’s first standard breeds
1874
American Pekin
Included in the first edition of the American Poultry Association’s Standard of Perfection.⁠[1, 2]
The duck that named a building style
6 m tall
The Big Duck, Long Island
Built by a duck farmer in 1931 to sell ducks and eggs, it gave architects the word “duck” for buildings shaped like objects. It is on the US National Register of Historic Places.⁠[25, 26]

A Pekin duck’s life

From incubator to adult in a few months.

Before hatching
Incubator eggs
Pekin hens rarely sit on their eggs, so most are hatched in incubators.⁠[1, 2]
Hatch day
Ready to swim
Ducklings of this species can swim as soon as they hatch, covered in fluffy down.⁠[7]
First hours
Imprinting
A newly hatched duckling follows the first moving thing it sees. Without a mother duck, that may be a person.⁠[15, 16]
Weeks 1–7
Growth spurt
Pekins can pass 3.5 kg in about seven weeks. Farm Pekins are usually raised for about six weeks.⁠[1, 18]
About 2 months
Grown-up feathers
Wild mallard ducklings can fly 50–60 days after hatching. Heavy Pekins mostly stay on the ground.⁠[7, 2]
Laying age
Eggs and nests
Hens can lay more than 150 eggs a year and strongly prefer a nest with soft material such as sawdust.⁠[1, 2, 19]
Adult life
Life in a flock
Pekins are gregarious and talkative and do well as pets. Wild mallards live 3 years on average, but some reach 20.⁠[2, 7]

History of the Pekin duck

From imperial China to Long Island farms.

≈3,000 years ago
Ducks are domesticated
Mallard-type ducks were domesticated in China about 3,000 years ago, possibly earlier. Genome studies show a complex history, with separate meat and egg lines.⁠[1, 6, 27]
1330
Roast duck in Beijing
A roast duck dish appears in an imperial cookbook of the Yuan dynasty. The dish now called Peking duck took its final form under the later Ming emperors.⁠[28]
1872–1873
The long voyage
Fifteen white ducks hatched in Peking (Beijing) were shipped from Shanghai. Nine survived the 124-day voyage and reached New York on 13 March 1873.⁠[1]
1874
An official breed
The Pekin was included in the first American Poultry Association Standard of Perfection.⁠[1, 2]
Late 1800s
The Long Island duck
So many Pekins were raised on Long Island, New York, that they were also called Long Island ducks.⁠[1]
1931
The Big Duck
A Long Island duck farmer built a 6 m duck-shaped shop to sell ducks and eggs. It is now a historic landmark.⁠[25, 26]
2018
Genes for white and big
Scientists found gene changes linked to the Pekin’s white down (MITF) and larger size (IGF2BP1).⁠[5]

Pekin duck vs mallard vs Muscovy

The Pekin is a tame form of the mallard. The Muscovy, the other farm duck, is a different species altogether.

American Pekin vs mallard vs Muscovy duck
	Pekin duck	Mallard	Muscovy duck
Scientific name⁠[7, 23]	Anas platyrhynchos (domestic)	Anas platyrhynchos	Cairina moschata
Wild or domestic⁠[2, 7, 23]	Domestic breed	Wild (ancestor of most farm ducks)	Wild and domestic
Weight⁠[2, 7, 23]	Drakes 4 kg+	0.7–1.6 kg	2.7–6.8 kg
Colour⁠[2, 7, 23]	Creamy white	Green-headed drake, brown hen	Mostly white in farm birds; many colours
Flying⁠[2, 7, 23]	Barely	Strong flier	Wild birds roost in trees
Voice⁠[12, 23]	Hens quack loudly	Hens quack loudly	Hisses at threats; quacks as contact calls
Nest⁠[1, 12, 23]	Rarely sits; incubators	9–13 eggs on the ground near water	Tree hollows 3–18 m up
Comes from⁠[1, 7, 23]	China, via the USA (1873)	Northern Hemisphere	Mexico, Central and South America

Pekins and mallards can have fertile young together, because they are the same species.

Are Pekin ducks endangered?

No. Pekins are farmed in huge numbers: more than 200 million ducks are raised for meat each year in the US and EU alone. The real questions are about their welfare and about domestic ducks mixing with wild ones.

IUCN Red List

Least Concern (LC)

The IUCN rates the species Anas platyrhynchos as Least Concern. Domestic breeds are not assessed separately, and breed guides list the Pekin’s conservation status as “not applicable”.⁠[20, 7, 2]

IUCN Red List (wild mallard), Least Concern since 1998

Threats

Mixing with wild ducks
Large releases of game-farm mallards, a domestic breed, are changing the genes of wild mallards, especially in central Europe and eastern North America.⁠[21, 7]
No water to bathe in
Ducks kept without bathing water preen less and grow smaller preen glands. European scientists list access to water as a key welfare need.⁠[10, 17]
Predators
Heavy breeds like the Pekin are slow and can’t fly away, so they are easy prey for foxes, dogs and coyotes without a fence.⁠[2]

What’s helping

Water for preening
Even small preening cups let Pekin ducks wet-preen more, without harming their growth.⁠[18]
Better nests
Studies show laying Pekins strongly prefer nests with sawdust, which helps farms design better nest boxes.⁠[19]
Research-based standards
Scientists are reviewing duck welfare studies to set clear standards for the hundreds of millions of ducks raised each year.⁠[22, 17]

Wild relative

MallardLeast Concern
The Pekin’s wild ancestor is common and widespread across the Northern Hemisphere.⁠[20, 7]

Pekin duck quiz

Twelve questions. Every answer is somewhere on this page.

Question 1 of 12Score 0

Which wild duck is the Pekin a domestic form of?

Pekin Duck field notes

Diet, food web, safety and badges from the Snappit field guide.

Diet & Feeding

Pekin ducks enjoy a mixed diet of plants, insects, and grains found in water and on land.

Primary Foods

Grains
Seeds
Aquatic plants
Small insects
Worms
Slugs
Foraging Method: Foraging

Ecological connections

Red FoxEaten by
Foxes are common predators of Pekin ducks.
RaccoonEaten by
Raccoons might prey on duck eggs or small ducklings.
HumanRaised by
Humans raise Pekin ducks for their meat and eggs.

Safety

Danger 1/5 · Very low

Pekin ducks are gentle animals, but it's best to watch them from a distance and not startle them.

Traits

Collections

Birds

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Genus: Anas

Also known as

American Pekin · Long Island duck · White Pekin · Pekin · Peking Duck

Sources for these Pekin duck facts

28 studies and references · checked Oct 16, 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

How to identify Pekin Duck?

Compare the silhouette, bill shape, tail length, wing bars and markings around the eyes. The same small brown bird at your feeder can look quite different in breeding plumage, winter plumage or its first year. Bird Identifier: upload a photo and compare the visible details.

How long is Pekin Duck?

50-80 cm

What is Pekin Duck's wingspan?

90-110 cm

How much does Pekin Duck weigh?

3.6-5 kg

How long does Pekin Duck live?

9-12 years

What does Pekin Duck eat?

Pekin ducks enjoy a mixed diet of plants, insects, and grains found in water and on land.

How many eggs does Pekin Duck lay?

8-12

Can Pekin ducks fly?

Barely. Adult Pekin drakes weigh 4 kg or more, about four times as much as an average wild mallard (1.1 kg), and heavy domestic breeds no longer fly well. They spend their lives on the ground and on the water.

How many eggs does a Pekin duck lay?

A Pekin hen can lay more than 150 white eggs a year. Pekins rarely go broody, so the eggs are usually hatched in an incubator.

Is a Pekin duck a mallard?

Yes, in a way. Pekins are a domestic breed of the mallard species, Anas platyrhynchos, so the two can have fertile ducklings together. One 2021 genome study even suggests domestic ducks came from a wild population that scientists have not yet sampled.

Why are Pekin ducks white?

Farmers chose white birds partly because white-feathered ducks are easier to prepare for market. Genetic studies link the white down to a change in the MITF gene, which controls pigment cells.

Where do Pekin ducks come from?

From China. The American Pekin began with nine ducks, hatched in Peking (Beijing), that reached New York in March 1873. Many were then raised on Long Island, so they were also called Long Island ducks.

Do Pekin ducks need water to swim in?

They can live without a pond, but they need water to dip their heads in and bathe. Ducks without bathing water preen less, and European scientists list access to water as a key welfare need.

How can you tell a Pekin drake from a hen?

Look at the tail and listen. Drakes of mallard-type ducks have curled feathers in the middle of the tail, and the loud “quack” comes from hens.

Is Peking duck made from Pekin ducks?

Peking duck is a roast duck dish from Beijing, with roots in imperial cookbooks from 1330. The breed is named after the same city, where its ancestors were hatched. Pekin-type ducks are raised for meat around the world.