Swan Goose
Swan Goose (Anser cygnoides )
The Swan Goose (Anser cygnoides ) is a species of the genus field geese ( Anser ) in the family of Anatidae ( Anatidae ). It belongs to the Central Asian Faunentyp. Swan geese were probably held in China as early as 3,000 years ago. The domesticated form of the swan goose, which grew out of this attitude is the bumps goose.
The Feldgansart Swan Goose should not be confused with a known also under this name Hausgans race, which is also known as the Emden goose.
Features
The Swan Goose is a predominantly brown, very large species of goose. What is striking is the long, front hand hellcremfarbene and sharply separated therefrom on the back of brown neck. Also the top of the head is brown to reddish brown. The swan goose has a long dark bill, the base is lined with white. Characteristic of the wild form is the straight beak ridge line. The male has a slight hint of Aufwülstung on the beak.
The males are much larger and heavier than the females. They weigh about 3.5 kg, while females weigh about 2.8 to 3.3 kilograms.
The reputation of the Swan Goose is far sounding, stretched and hoarse acting trumpets. It is particularly common to hear of flying swan geese. Swan Geese are alarmed by something can hear a hard short call that is repeated.
Habitat and Distribution
The bird breeds in Siberia and Mongolia and winters in China, for example between the Yangtze River and Canton.
Swan geese arrived quite late, in the 1920s to Europe and in 1937 for the first time brought into Europe for breeding. Pure swan geese are found in Germany, for example, in the Tierpark Berlin.
In Europe there is a free-living population in the Rhine-Neckar region. In Heidelberg, you will find the animals mainly on the banks of the Neckar. In 2004, the population consisted of approximately 180 animals, but was then reduced by the city administration to about two dozen animals. Also in the not far distant Rheinauen to Lampertheim there is a backlog of about 40 geese. This to a small extent with their domesticated form of the bumps goose, verbastardierten birds probably go back to animals that were first placed in 1956 in Holland for reproduction. It was used for breeding two wild-caught Schwanenganter and two humps geese, which are then again back crossed with Schwanengantern. These free-living populations are problematic because they often bastardisieren in Central Europe with gray geese. This results in intermediate mixed types.
Way of life
Swan geese return quite late, in April, in the breeding grounds, where they breed often in colonies on small islands in lakes in the marsh or on the dry forest floor. The 5-8 pale cream -colored eggs are laid in May and incubated for 28 to 30 days. After about 10 weeks, the young are fledged and drag in September with the mature animals in the wintering areas.
The Swan Goose feeds on how many geese mainly of grass and herbs as well as by seeds. In addition, they eat in their natural range and roots and rhizomes of marsh plants.
Stock development
In the 1970s there was in Asia a wildlife population of about 10,000 animals, of these is declining due to hunting. The IUCN has the swan goose date of " endangered ", " endangered" stepped on. Due to the change in the assessment are a better understanding of the population status. The distribution of areas in Russia are shrunk to island-like breeding areas. More stable breeding population there is in western Mongolia and in northern and east-central China.