COVER STORY: SPECIES PROFILE
THIS Latin American species of duck, which Columbus took on board his ship when it docked in the Bahamas in 1492 and subsequently transported back to Europe, has long been rumoured to have a Soviet connection.
“Muscovy” is the old name for the area surrounding Moscow. A supposed link – which is more of a red herring – is the Muscovite or Muscovy Company, which traded birds into Europe in the 1500s, but (significantly) never traded birds from the Americas. The Spanish were the first to introduce the Muscovy duck into Europe, along with American turkeys.
The name “Muscovy” is also said to be a corruption of “musk duck”: the Muscovy’s preen oil has a slight musky odour, but it hasn’t affected them being reared for meat for centuries. There is also the, meaning “Cairo”. Combined with its specific name (“musk”), it was thus described scientifically and inaccurately (not unusual with scientific names) as “the musky bird from Cairo”.
