A DUCK that was thought to be extinct for 15 years has been brought back from the brink and given a new home on a remote lake in northern Madagascar.

Some 21 Madagascar pochards spent a week in the safety of the world’s first floating aviaries, made from Scottish salmon-farming cages, on Lake Sofia.

Madagascar pochards spend almost all their time on water and, importantly, feed underwater.

The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) said this pioneering approach is to enable the birds to become accustomed to their new surroundings, increasing the chances they will remain at the site after release. The state of the wetlands in Madagascar is so poor they will likely not survive if they leave the lake. The ducks were released from the aviaries in December and very quickly adapted to the lake, diving and flying, associating with other wild ducks and returning to the safety of the floating aviaries to feed and roost.

Experts from WWT, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, The Peregrine Fund and the Government of Madagascar have spent years laying the foundations for the birds’ introduction. With a wild population of just 25, this duck may be the rarest bird on the planet.

Nigel Jarrett, head of conservation breeding at the WWT, said: “It takes a village to raise a child, so the old African proverb goes, but in this case it has taken a village to raise a duck. We have been preparing for this moment for over a decade. The logistics of working in a remote part of Madagascar – where access to the lakes by vehicle is only possible for three months a year – have been an enormous challenge, requiring us to come up with novel approaches.

“If we can make this work, it will provide a powerful example not just of how to save the planet’s most threatened species but how communities can manage an ecosystem to benefit people and wildlife, especially in areas of significant poverty.”