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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re talking about swans. Swans are the largest waterfowl living on our planet. Contrary to some other birds we’ve previously discussed, male swans tend to be larger than females. These big birds can range from seven and a half pounds (3.5 kilograms) to over thirty pounds (14 kilograms) in weight, which, on average, is more than Chester weighs; swans also have wingspans reaching from five feet (1.5 meters) to more than six and a half feet (2 meters) in length, which averages out to just over the height of the average human. There are six living species of true swans, all classified in the genus Cygnus. This name might sound familiar to any stargazers out there because it’s the name of one of the constellations in our night sky - which just so happens to be represented by a swan. There’s also another species commonly called the Coscoroba swan, but it isn’t classified with “true” swans, so we’ll be saving it for its own future episode.

Swans are considered a cosmopolitan group of animals, meaning they’re found throughout the world, though they aren’t found in Antarctica. Being waterfowl, swans spend their time near sources of water. These birds may be found on lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, open marshes, bays, marine estuaries, and in man-made parks. It’s relatively easy to distinguish a swan from other nearby waterfowl because swans are usually the biggest swimming birds around. Most swans are almost completely white in color which also helps them stand out from their waterfowl relatives, though two swan species break the mold. Unsurprisingly, the black swan is almost completely black in color, and the black-necked swan has, well, a black neck and head. They really stretched their creative muscles when they named those two. Swans prefer temperate regions, and many individuals will migrate throughout the year in order to find more appropriate climates. Migration often correlates to breeding with swans traveling as far as 4,500 miles, sometimes crossing oceans, to reach breeding grounds. Swans are known as symbols of love. This is likely because swans tend to be monogamous throughout their lifetimes, however, this isn’t always the case.

Swans stay together because usually a pair has successfully produced offspring together and the rationale is that the next time they breed they will likely be able to do so again because they already have in the past. It’s believed this is why swans stay monogamous. It’s a means of ensuring their offspring have a chance in the future. However, when a nest fails, swans may wonder. A successful nest consists of about six eggs which are incubated by their mother. The mother swan and the eggs in turn are guarded by the father swan, and he can be quite the brute! Incubation lasts one to two months and the baby swans leave the nest shortly after hatching. They’ll stay with their parents for just under a year until the next breeding season, and so long as they can avoid predators such as ravens, eagles, owls, snapping turtles, foxes, bears, wolves, bobcats, and other carnivores they may live to be up to thirty years old in the wild.

Swans themselves are mostly vegetarians. Baby swans may eat aquatic invertebrates but they pretty quickly transition to a diet of aquatic vegetation, though some swans may eat frogs, fish, frog and fish larvae, as well as muscles. Because they’re usually the biggest birds on the water, they can reach the furthest food and they do so by dabbling - which is just a fancy word for saying they show off their butts while they eat.

For more facts on swans, check out the links in the description. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.