A genus of dabbling ducks found worldwide, including familiar ducks like mallards; also used as a plural form referring to multiple ducks of this genus.
From Latin 'anas' meaning duck. The term has been used in scientific taxonomy since Linnaeus, who formally classified the genus Anas in the 18th century.
The genus Anas includes one of the most successful birds ever—the mallard—which not only colonized every continent except Antarctica but also taught us that female ducks are surprisingly picky about which males they mate with, driving wild patterns of evolution.
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