I can’t believe the difference (death mentioned)

[CannedMonster]

It helps to understand the behavior of wild mallard ducks (and many other species). Early in the breeding season, a drake will establish a territory and try to attract a female to it. If successful, he defends the territory, mostly from other males. When the eggs hatch and the female moves off the nest to care for the ducklings, the drake stops defending the territory.

Drakes tend to form gangs of unattached males late in the breeding season. These can be drakes that successfully bred earlier and/or drakes that never established a territory and never found a mate. These gangs search for females and attempt forced copulation for the remainder of the breeding season. In natural conditions, the females can fly and have much more space. They usually can avoid the gangs. But our domestic ducks are confined and usually cannot fly.

Obviously, behavior of our domestic ducks has been modified by selective breeding and captive conditions. But drakes still tend to form late-season gangs.

Thank you for that explanation.
I really like to learn about why animals behave the way they do.
It helps us humans figure out better ways to manage them.