Eaton's pintail (''Anas eatoni'') is a

dabbling duck The Anatinae are a subfamily of the family Anatidae ( swans, geese and ducks). Its surviving members are the dabbling ducks, which feed mainly at the surface rather than by diving. The other members of the Anatinae are the extinct moa-nalo, a yo ...

of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Anas''. It is also known as the southern pintail. The species is restricted to the island groups of

Kerguelen The Kerguelen Islands ( or ; in French commonly ' but officially ', ), also known as the Desolation Islands (' in French), are a archipelago, group of islands in the subantarctic, sub-Antarctic constituting one of the two exposed parts of the ...

and Crozet in the southern

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

. It resembles a small female

northern pintail The pintail or northern pintail (''Anas acuta'') is a duck species with wide geographic distribution that breeds in the northern areas of Europe and across the Palearctic and North America. It is migratory and winters south of its breeding ra ...

. It was named after the English explorer and naturalist Alfred Edmund Eaton. It is threatened by

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

, particularly

feral cat A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact: it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...

s, which

prey Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the ...

on it. There are two

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

: ''A. eatoni eatoni'' (Kerguelen pintail) and ''A. eatoni drygalskii'' (Crozet pintail). DafilaKeulemans

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet
Eaton's pintail Birds of the Indian Ocean Birds of subantarctic islands Fauna of the Crozet Islands Fauna of the Kerguelen Islands Eaton's pintail Eaton's pintail {{duck-stub