拉布拉多鴨

拉布拉多鴨（学名：Camptorhynchus labradorius）是一種像絨鴨及呈黑白色的鴨，相信是北美洲自1500年後第一種滅絕的動物。最後見到拉布拉多鴨是於1878年在紐約州的埃爾邁拉市。最後保存下來的標本是於1875年在長島被射殺的。雖然未有發現牠們的巢穴，據估是在拉布拉多鴨繁殖，並由新斯科舍遷至切薩皮克灣過冬。

食性
拉布拉多鴨的嘴邊闊平，內有大量薄片，適合吃細小的軟體動物。故此牠們在生態上是太平洋或亞洲北部小絨鴨的同伴。其他有相似結構的動物是澳洲無關的紅耳鴨，但紅耳鴨主要是吃浮游生物，但也吃軟體動物。拉布拉多鴨的情況有點像山藍鴨，可能只是在外表上相似。

滅絕
拉布拉多鴨的滅絕仍未有解釋。雖然牠們也會被作為食物，但其肉質並不可口，加上很快變壞，只有很低的價值。另外估計牠們的蛋被過份採集，或是因蚌類的減少而缺乏食物。雖然秋沙鴨亞科也會吃淺水的蚌類，但卻沒有一種像拉布拉多鴨般依賴這些食物。

參考

• Cokinos, Christopher (2000): Hope is the Thing with Feathers. New York: Putnam, pp. 281–304. ISBN 1-58542-006-9
• Ducher, William (1894): The Labrador Duck - another specimen, with additional data respecting extant specimens. Auk 11: 4-12. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110606081527/http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v011n01/p0004-p0012.pdf PDF fulltext]
• Forbush, Edward Howe (1912): A History of the Game Birds, Wild-Fowl and Shore Birds of Massachusetts and Adjacent States. Boston: Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, pp. 411–416.
• Fuller, Errol (2001): Extinct Birds, Comstock Publishing, ISBN 0-8014-3954-X, pp. 85–87.
• Madge, Steve & Burn, Hilary (1988): Waterfowl. An identification guide to the ducks, geese and swans of the world. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, pp. 265–266. ISBN 0-395-46727-6

外部連結

• [http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=488&m=0 BirdLife Species Factsheet]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060223185847/http://www.redlist.org/search/details.php?species=3722 IUCN Red List]
• [http://www.abirdshome.com/Audubon/VolVI/00665.html The Labrador Duck from John James Audubon's Birds of America]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120207065557/http://www.chemunghistory.com/labradorduck.html The Very Last Labrador Duck - Elmira, New York]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060215092953/http://www.qc.ec.gc.ca/faune/oiseaux_menaces/html/eider_labrador_e.html Environment Canada]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20041212194000/http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Birds/MSS/Anglais/elabrado.htm Swans, Geese, and Ducks of Canada]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060423191556/http://www.uea.ac.uk/bio/people/faculty/reynoldslab/extinction_tableB.htm Marine Extinction Database] University of East Anglia, UK
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110608002039/http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/naturalis/detail?lang=uk&id=52 3D view] of specimens RMNH 110.083 and RMNH 110.084 at Naturalis, Leiden (requires QuickTime browser plugin).