Goose
| Goose | |
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| Canada Goose, Branta canadensis ⓘ | |
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| Tribe: | Anserini
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The word goose (plural: geese) is the English name for a considerable number of birds, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller.
This article deals with the true geese in the subfamily Anserinae, tribe Anserini.
A number of other waterbirds, mostly related to the shelducks, have "goose" as part of their name.
Etymology
The word Goose is a direct descendant of Proto-Indo-European root, *ghans-. In Germanic languages, the root gave Old English gōs with the plural gēs and gandra (becoming Modern English goose, geese, and gander, respectively), New High German Gans, and Old Norse gas. This term also gave Lithuanian žąsìs, Irish gé (swan, from Old Irish géiss), Latin anser, Greek chēn, Albanian gatë (heron), Sanskrit hamsá, Avestan zāō, Polish gęś, Russian гусь (an interesting case of parallel evolution with English), and so forth.
The term goose applies to the birds in general, and to a female in particular. The word gander is used for a male in particular. Young birds before fledging are called goslings. A group of geese on the ground is called a gaggle; when geese fly in formation they are called a wedge or a skein (see also list of collective nouns for birds).
Geese are commonly described as silly, as in the proverb that "it is a silly goose that comes to the fox's sermon".[1] The phrase "silly goose" is of some antiquity, as the Old English word seely was commonly applied to animals such as sheep and geese, indicating their careless innocence and hapless but blessed nature.[2]
True geese
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The following are the living genera of true geese:
- Anser - Grey Geese, including the domesticated goose and the Swan Goose
- Chen - White Geese (often included in Anser)
- Branta - Black Geese, such as the Canada goose
The following two genera are only tentatively placed in the Anserinae ; they may belong to the shelducks or form a subfamily on their own:
- Cereopsis - Cape Barren Goose
- Cnemiornis - New Zealand Geese (prehistoric)
Either these or - more probably - the goose-like Coscoroba Swan is the closest living relative of the true geese.
Fossils 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 a lot of the different species of true geese that have been around since about 10 million years ago in the Miocene. The aptly-named Anser atavus ("Great-great-great-grandfather goose") from some 12 million years ago had even more plesiomorphies in common with swans. In addition, there are some goose-like birds known from subfossil remains found on the Hawaiian Islands. See Anserinae for more.
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. Paired geese are more dominant and feed more, two factors that result in more young.[3]
Other birds called "geese"
There are a number of mainly southern hemisphere birds called "geese", most of which belong to the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae. These are:
- Orinoco Goose, Neochen jubata
- Egyptian Goose, Alopochen aegyptiacus
- The South American sheldgeese, genus Chloephaga
- The prehistoric Madagascar Sheldgoose, Centrornis majori, the "Woodard"
The Blue-winged Goose, Cyanochen cyanopterus belongs either to these, or to lineage closer to ducks.
The Spur-winged Goose, Plectropterus gambensis, is most closely related to the shelducks, but distinct enough to warrant its own subfamily, the Plectropterinae.
The three species of small waterfowl in the genus Nettapus are named "pygmy geese", e.g. the Cotton Pygmy Goose (N. javanica). They seem to represent an ancient lineage like the Cape Barren Goose and the Spur-winged Goose.
A genus of prehistorically extinct seaducks, Chendytes, is sometimes called "diving-geese" due to their large size.
The unusual Magpie Goose is in a family of its own, the Anseranatidae.
The Northern Gannet, a seabird, is also known as the "Solan Goose" although it is a bird unrelated to the true geese, or any other Anseriformes for that matter.
See also
- Angel Wing - A disease common in geese.
- Domestic goose, which includes cooking and folklore
- List of goose breeds
- Waterfowl
- Wildfowl
- Flying Geese Paradigm
Notes
- ^ Peter Richard Wilkinson, Thesaurus of traditional English metaphors
- ^ Harold Bayley, Lost Language of Symbolism
- ^
Lamprecht, Jürg (November, 1987). "Female reproductive strategies in bar-headed geese (Anser indicus): Why are geese monogamous?". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 21 (5). Springer Berlin / Heidelberg: 297–305. doi:10.1007/BF00299967. Retrieved November, 2008.
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References
- Carboneras, Carles (1992): Family Anatidae (Ducks, Geese and Swans). In: del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (eds.): Handbook of Birds of the World (Volume 1: Ostrich to Ducks): 536-629, plates 40-50. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 84-87334-10-5
- Crystal, David (1998): The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (Paperback) ISBN 0-521-55967-7
- Terres, John K. & National Audubon Society (1991): The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds. Wings Books, New York. Reprint of 1980 edition. ISBN 0-517-03288-0
External links
Media related to Anserini at Wikimedia Commons
Media related to Geese at Wikimedia Commons
- Goose videos on the Internet Bird Collection