A process where the birds shed their old feathers and grow new ones to prepare for the journey ahead. Geese typically migrate in the fall and in order to prepare for this travel they start in the summer by igniting a process called molting. range and their population has been growing ever since. The species was reintroduced across the northern U.S. When European settlers came to America, the birds were seen as easy prey and were almost wiped out of the population. Some members of the species only move south enough to ensure a supply of food and water. Geese like the Canada goose do not always migrate.
The evidence suggests the bird was flightless, unlike modern geese. Garganornis ballmanni from Late Miocene (~ 6-9 Ma) of Gargano region of central Italy, stood one and a half meters tall and weighed about 22 kilograms. Geese fossils have been found ranging from 10 to 12 million years ago (Middle Miocene). Geese honk while in flight to encourage other members of the flock to maintain a 'v-formation' and to help communicate with one another. Paired geese are more dominant and feed more, two factors that result in more young. Geese are monogamous, living in permanent pairs throughout the year however, unlike most other permanently monogamous animals, they are territorial only during the short nesting season. In addition, some goose-like birds are known from subfossil remains found on the Hawaiian Islands. The aptly named Anser atavus (meaning "progenitor goose") from some 12 million years ago had even more plesiomorphies in common with swans. Either these or, more probably, the goose-like coscoroba swan is the closest living relative of the true geese.įossils of true geese are hard to assign to genus all that can be said is that their fossil record, particularly in North America, is dense and comprehensively documents many different species of true geese that have been around since about 10 million years ago in the Miocene. Two genera of geese are only tentatively placed in the Anserinae they may belong to the shelducks or form a subfamily on their own: Cereopsis, the Cape Barren goose, and Cnemiornis, the prehistoric New Zealand goose. The two living genera of true geese are: Anser, grey geese and white geese, such as the greylag goose and snow goose, and Branta, black geese, such as the Canada goose. True geese and their relativesīarnacle geese ( Branta leucopsis) in Naantali, Finland This term also gave Lithuanian: žąsìs, Irish: gé (goose, from Old Irish géiss), Hindi: कलहंस, Latin: anser, Spanish and Portuguese: ganso, Ancient Greek: χήν ( khēn), Albanian: gatë ( swans), Finnish: hanhi, Avestan zāō, Polish: gęś, Romanian: gâscă / gânsac, Ukrainian: гуска / гусак ( huska / husak), Russian: гусыня / гусь ( gusyna / gus), Czech: husa, and Persian: غاز ( ghāz). In Germanic languages, the root gave Old English gōs with the plural gēs and gandra (becoming Modern English goose, geese, gander, respectively), West Frisian goes, gies and guoske, Dutch: gans, New High German Gans, Gänse, and Ganter, and Old Norse gās and gæslingr, whence English gosling. The word "goose" is a direct descendant of Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰh₂éns.
The collective noun for a group of geese on the ground is a gaggle when in flight, they are called a skein, a team, or a wedge when flying close together, they are called a plump. Young birds before fledging are called goslings. The term "goose" may refer to either a male or female bird, but when paired with " gander", refers specifically to a female one (the latter referring to a male). More distantly related members of the family Anatidae are swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller. Some other birds, mostly related to the shelducks, have "goose" as part of their names. This group comprises the genera Anser (the grey geese and white geese) and Branta (the black geese). A goose ( PL: geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae.
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