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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing swan geese. These birds got their slightly confusing common name due to their similar appearance to swans, however, they are geese. Swan geese are natively found in eastern Asia. Their breeding season starts in April. During this time single mating pairs or loose groups of geese can be found in wetlands, near lakes and rivers, and even in mountainous regions. The female will lay around six eggs and incubate them for about a month, after which they will hatch. Within two months the babies are able to fly and another month later they’re capable of living independently, though they tend to stick around with their parents for longer. Swan geese reach reproductive maturity around one to three years of age and may live to be twenty years or older if they can survive their first year of life.

During the winter months, swan geese migrate south heading towards central and eastern China for the winter. During this migration, swan geese will stop along their journey as opposed to flying straight through to their destination. They don’t breed during this time and large flocks will gather together in order to molt, or drop and regrow their feathers, in preparation for their journey. In the past, it was more typical to see these birds migrating to Japan and Korea, but hunting and habitat loss have reduced their numbers significantly. It’s because of this that the swan goose is considered a vulnerable species. Thankfully, many sites the geese frequent are currently under protection in an effort to help conserve this species.

The swan goose weighs about 7 pounds (3kg) and its wingspan averages 5 feet (1.5m) in length. Wild swan geese have all black beaks with bright orange, webbed feet. Their head and neck are bi-colored, the top half being dark brown and the bottom half being nearly white. This fades to a creamy beige present on their breast plumage. Their wings are brownish grey. We say “wild” swan geese display these colors because there is a domestic variant that has been bred for centuries.

The domestic swan goose is called the Chinese goose. Though they sometimes retain their wild colors, Chinese geese are usually white all over. The reason for this is because white plumage is considered more aesthetically pleasing. The domestic Chinese goose has anatomical differences to wild swan geese. Can you spot some of these differences? Because Chinese geese have been raised for consumption, it was pretty typical for the biggest, fattest birds to be bred, so they aren’t strong fliers like their wild counterparts. It’s pretty common for domestic geese to develop orange patterning on their beaks where the wild swan goose does not present this trait. Swan geese were also domesticated for their eggs and because they make really good lawnmowers! That’s because their diet consists mostly of grasses, though they also eat water plants and invertebrates.

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