The name Australian Spotted is something of a misnomer, as the Australian Spotted duck is one of the few breeds of domesticated ducks that originated in the United States. John C. Kriner and Stanley Mason of Pennsylvania developed this breed by allowing Calls, Mallards, Pintails, and various Australian wild ducks to crossbreed for several years before selecting the desired specimens. The first exhibit of the Australian Spotted began in 1928.
Many duck enthusiasts don't believe that Pintails contributed to the acculturation, because a Mallard derivative and Pintail cross renders a sterile duck due to chromosomal differences. However, it is possible for a rare mutant Mallard-Pintail cross to pass on its genes to generations to come, leaving it possible that the Pintail did indeed contribute to the specimens. David Holderread, one of the top waterfowl breeders in the United States, has said that he has observed various traits in the Australian Spotted that are distinct to Pintails.
Famous quotes containing the words australian and/or spotted:
“Beyond the horizon, or even the knowledge, of the cities along the coast, a great, creative impulse is at work—the only thing, after all, that gives this continent meaning and a guarantee of the future. Every Australian ought to climb up here, once in a way, and glimpse the various, manifold life of which he is a part.”
—Vance Palmer (1885–1959)
“The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains of my gab and my loitering.
I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)