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Swans are the largest extant members of the waterfowl family
Swans are generally found in temperate environments, rarely occurring in the tropics. Four (or five) species occur in the
Swans feed in water and on land. They are almost entirely herbivorous, although they may eat small amounts of aquatic animals. In the water, food is obtained by up-ending or dabbling, and their diet is composed of the roots, tubers, stems and leaves of aquatic and submerged plants.
A familiar behaviour of swans is that they mate for life, and typically bond even before they reach sexual maturity. Trumpeter swans, for example, can live as long as 24 years and only start breeding at the age of 4–7, forming monogamous
. British Trust for Ornithology Swans are highly protective of their nests. They will viciously attack anything that they perceive as a threat to their chicks, including humans. One man was suspected to have drowned in such an attack. Swans' intraspecific aggressive behaviour is shown more frequent than interspecific behaviour for food and shelter. The aggression with other species is shown more in
* Subgenus ''Chenopis''
** † New Zealand swan, ''Cygnus sumnerensis'', an extinct species related to the black swan of Australia
* Other subgenera (see above):
** †''Cygnus atavus'' (Fraas 1870) Mlíkovský 1992 [''Anas atava'' Fraas 1870; ''Anas cygniformis'' Fraas 1870; ''Palaelodus steinheimensis'' Fraas 1870; ''Anser atavus'' (Fraas 1870) Lambrecht 1933; ''Anser cygniformis'' (Fraas 1870) Lambrecht 1933] (Middle Miocene of Germany)
** †''Cygnus csakvarensis'' Lambrecht 1933 [''Cygnus csákvárensis'' Lambrecht 1931a nomen nudum; ''Cygnanser csakvarensis'' (Lambrecht 1933) Kretzoi 1957; ''Olor csakvarensis'' (Lambrecht 1933) Mlíkovský 1992b] (Late Miocene of Hungary)
** †Dwarf swan (''Cygnus equitum'') Bate 1916 sensu Livezey 1997 'Anser equitum'' (Bate 1916) Brodkorb 1964; ''Cygnus'' (''Olor'') ''equitum'' Bate 1916 sensu Northcote 1988a(Middle – Late Pleistocene of Malta and Sicily, Mediterranean)
** † Giant swan (''Cygnus falconeri'') Parker 1865 sensu Livezey 1997a 'Cygnus melitensis'' Falconer 1868; ''Palaeocygnus falconeri'' (Parker 1865) Oberholser 1908(Middle Pleistocene of Malta and Sicily, Mediterranean)
** †''Cygnus hibbardi'' Brodkorb 1958 (?Early Pleistocene of Idaho, U.S.)
** †''Cygnus lacustris'' (De Vis 1905) 'Archaeocycnus lacustris'' De Vis 1905(Late Pleistocene of the Lake Eyre region, Australia)
** †''Cygnus liskunae'' (Kuročkin 1976) 'Anser liskunae'' Kuročkin 1976(Middle Pliocene of western Mongolia)
** †''Cygnus mariae'' Bickart 1990 (Late Miocene of Florida and Early Pliocene of Arizona, USA)
** †'' Cygnus paloregonus'' Cope 1878 'Anser condoni'' Schufeldt 1892; ''Cygnus matthewi'' Schufeldt 1913(Middle Pleistocene of west-central U.S.)
** †''Cygnus verae'' Boev 2000 (Early Pliocene of Bulgaria)
** †''Cygnus'' sp. Louchart ''et al''. 1998 (Early Pleistocene of Turkey)
** †''Cygnus'' sp. (Pleistocene of Australia)
* Other genera
** † ''
A swan is one of the attributes of St.
A History of British Birds
* * {{Authority control Anserinae Extant Miocene first appearances Taxa named by François Alexandre Pierre de Garsault
Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family 
, a word of the same meaning. An adult male is a ''cob'', from Middle English (leader of a group); an adult female is a ''pen''. A group of swans is called a bevy or a wedge.
Anatidae
The Anatidae are the biological family (biology), family of water birds that includes ducks, goose, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted f ...
. The swans' closest relatives include the geese
A goose (: geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (black geese). Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily (e.g., Egyp ...
and duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...
s. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...
Anserinae
The Anserinae are a subfamily in the waterfowl family Anatidae. It includes the swans and the true Goose, geese. Under alternative systematics, systematical concepts (see e.g., Terres & NAS, 1991), it is split into two subfamilies, the Anserina ...
where they form the tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae. They are the largest waterfowl
Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...
and are often among the largest flighted birds in their range.
There are six living and many extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
species of swan; in addition, there is a species known as the coscoroba swan
The coscoroba swan (''Coscoroba coscoroba'') is a species of waterfowl in the subfamily Anserinae of the family Anatidae.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the ...
which is no longer considered one of the true swans. Swans usually mate for life, although separation sometimes occurs, particularly following nesting failure, and if a mate dies, the remaining swan will take up with another. The number of eggs in each clutch
A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...
ranges from three to eight.
Taxonomy and terminology
The genus ''Cygnus'' was introduced in 1764 by the French naturalistFrançois Alexandre Pierre de Garsault
François Alexandre Pierre de Garsault was a French people, French botanist, zoologist and painter. de Garsault was born on 16 April 1691 in Aix-en-Provence, France and died 3 August 1778 in Paris, France. de Garsault was a member of the French ...
. The English word ''swan'', akin to the German , Dutch and Swedish , is derived from the Indo-European root
The roots of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) are basic parts of words to carry a lexical meaning, so-called morphemes. PIE roots usually have verbal meaning like "to eat" or "to run". Roots never occurred alone in the langu ...
'(''H'') ().
are known as ''cygnets'', from Old French
Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...
or (diminutive suffix ''et'' ), from the Latin word , a variant form of , itself from the Greek language">Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...Description
Swans are the largest extant members of the waterfowl family Anatidae
The Anatidae are the biological family (biology), family of water birds that includes ducks, goose, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted f ...
and are among the largest flying birds. The largest living species, including the mute swan
The mute swan (''Cygnus olor'') is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurasia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, home to ...
, trumpeter swan
The trumpeter swan (''Cygnus buccinator'') is a species of swan found in North America. The heaviest living bird native to North America, it is also the largest extant species of waterfowl, with a wingspan of 185 to 304.8 cm (6 ft 2 in ...
, and whooper swan
The whooper swan ( /ˈhuːpə(ɹ) swɒn/ "hooper swan"; ''Cygnus cygnus''), also known as the common swan, is a large northern hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American trumpeter swan, and the type species for the genu ...
, can reach a length of over and weigh over . Their wingspans can be over . Compared to the closely related geese, they are much larger and have proportionally larger feet and necks. Adults also have a patch of unfeathered skin between the eyes and bill. The sexes are alike in plumage
Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...
, but males are generally bigger and heavier than females. The biggest species of swan ever was the extinct ''Cygnus falconeri
''Cygnus falconeri'' is an extinct species of very large swan known from Middle Pleistocene-aged deposits from Malta and Sicily. Its dimensions are described as exceeding those of the living mute swan by one-third, which would give a bill-to-tai ...
'', a flightless giant swan known from fossils found on the Mediterranean islands of Malta
Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
and Sicily
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
. Its disappearance is thought to have resulted from extreme climate fluctuations or the arrival of superior predators and competitors.
The Northern Hemisphere species of swan have pure white plumage, but the Southern Hemisphere species are mixed black and white. The Australian black swan
The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large Anatidae, waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent ...
(''Cygnus atratus'') is completely black except for the white flight feathers on its wings; the chicks of black swans are light grey. The South American black-necked swan
The black-necked swan (''Cygnus melancoryphus'') is a species of waterfowl in the tribe Cygnini of the subfamily Anserinae.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of ...
has a white body with a black neck.
The legs of most swans are typically a dark blackish-grey colour, except for the South American black-necked swan, which has pink legs. Bill colour varies: the four subarctic
The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of hemiboreal regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Fennoscandia, Northwestern Russia, Siberia, and the Cair ...
species have black bills with varying amounts of yellow, and all the others are patterned red and black. Although birds do not have teeth, swans, like other Anatidae, have beaks with serrated edges that look like small jagged "teeth" as part of their beaks used for catching and eating aquatic plants and algae, but also molluscs, small fish, frogs, and worms. In the mute swan and black-necked swan, both sexes have a fleshy lump at the base of their bills on the upper mandible
In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla).
The jawbone i ...
, known as the knob, which is larger in males and is condition dependent, changing seasonally.
Distribution and movements
Swans are generally found in temperate environments, rarely occurring in the tropics. Four (or five) species occur in the Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...
, one species is found in Australia, one extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
species was found in New Zealand and the Chatham Islands
The Chatham Islands ( ; Moriori language, Moriori: , 'Misty Sun'; ) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island, administered as part of New Zealand, and consisting of about 10 islands within an approxima ...
, and one species is distributed in southern South America. They are absent from tropical Asia, Central America, northern South America and the entirety of Africa. One species, the mute swan, has been introduced to North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Several species are migratory, either wholly or partly so. The mute swan is a partial migrant, being resident over areas of Western Europe but wholly migratory in Eastern Europe and Asia. The tundra swan is wholly migratory, and the whooper swan and trumpeter swan are almost entirely migratory. There is some evidence that the black-necked swan is migratory over part of its range, but detailed studies have not established whether these movements are long or short-range migration.
Behaviour
Swans feed in water and on land. They are almost entirely herbivorous, although they may eat small amounts of aquatic animals. In the water, food is obtained by up-ending or dabbling, and their diet is composed of the roots, tubers, stems and leaves of aquatic and submerged plants.
A familiar behaviour of swans is that they mate for life, and typically bond even before they reach sexual maturity. Trumpeter swans, for example, can live as long as 24 years and only start breeding at the age of 4–7, forming monogamous pair bond
In biology, a pair bond is the strong affinity that develops in some species between a mating pair, often leading to the production and rearing of young and potentially a lifelong bond. Pair-bonding is a term coined in the 1940s that is frequently ...
s as early as 20 months. "Divorce", though rare, does occur; one study of mute swans shows a 3% rate for pairs that breed successfully and 9% for pairs that do not. The pair bonds are maintained year-round, even in gregarious and migratory species like the tundra swan
The tundra swan (''Cygnus columbianus'') is a small swan of the Holarctic. The two taxa within it are usually regarded as conspecific, but are also sometimes split into two species: Bewick's swan (''Cygnus bewickii'') of the Palaearctic and the w ...
, which congregate in large flocks in the wintering grounds.
Swans' nests are on the ground near water and about a metre (3') across. Unlike many other ducks and geese, the male helps with the nest construction, and will also take turns incubating the eggs. Alongside the whistling duck
The whistling ducks or tree ducks are a subfamily, Dendrocygninae, of the duck, goose and swan family of birds, Anatidae. In other taxonomic schemes, they are considered a separate family, Dendrocygnidae. Some taxonomists list only one genus, ...
s, swans are the only anatids that will do this. The average egg size (for the mute swan) is 113 × 74 mm ( x 3 in), weighing 340 g (12 oz), in a clutch size of 4 to 7, and an incubation period of 34–45 days."Mute Swan". British Trust for Ornithology Swans are highly protective of their nests. They will viciously attack anything that they perceive as a threat to their chicks, including humans. One man was suspected to have drowned in such an attack. Swans' intraspecific aggressive behaviour is shown more frequent than interspecific behaviour for food and shelter. The aggression with other species is shown more in
tundra swan
The tundra swan (''Cygnus columbianus'') is a small swan of the Holarctic. The two taxa within it are usually regarded as conspecific, but are also sometimes split into two species: Bewick's swan (''Cygnus bewickii'') of the Palaearctic and the w ...
s.
Systematics and evolution
Evidence suggests that the genus ''Cygnus'' evolved in Europe or western Eurasia during theMiocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
, spreading all over the Northern Hemisphere until the Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58biogeography
Biogeography is the study of the species distribution, distribution of species and ecosystems in geography, geographic space and through evolutionary history of life, geological time. Organisms and biological community (ecology), communities o ...
and appearance of the subgenus
In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.
In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...
''Olor'', it seems likely that these are of a more recent origin, as evidenced shows by their modern ranges (which were mostly uninhabitable during the last ice age) and great similarity between the taxa.
Phylogeny
Species
Genus ''Cygnus'' Thecoscoroba swan
The coscoroba swan (''Coscoroba coscoroba'') is a species of waterfowl in the subfamily Anserinae of the family Anatidae.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the ...
(''Coscoroba coscoroba'') from South America, the only species in its genus, is not a true swan. Its phylogenetic position is not fully resolved; it is in some aspects more similar to geese
A goose (: geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (black geese). Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily (e.g., Egyp ...
and shelduck
The shelducks, most species of which are found in the genus ''Tadorna'' (except for the Radjah shelduck, which is now found in its own monotypic genus ''Radjah''), are a group of large birds in the Tadorninae subfamily of the Anatidae, the biolog ...
s.
Fossil record
Thefossil record
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
of the genus ''Cygnus'' is quite impressive, although allocation to the subgenera is often tentative; as indicated above, at least the early forms probably belong to the ''C. olor'' – Southern Hemisphere lineage, whereas the Pleistocene taxa from North America would be placed in ''Olor''. Several prehistoric species have been described, mostly from the Northern Hemisphere. In the Mediterranean, the leg bones of the giant swan ('' C. falconeri'') were found on the islands of Malta
Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
and Sicily
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
; it may have been over 2 metres from tail to bill, which was taller (though not heavier) than the contemporary local dwarf elephants (''Palaeoloxodon falconeri
''Palaeoloxodon falconeri'' is an extinct species of dwarf elephant that lived during the Middle Pleistocene (sometime between around 500–200,000 years ago) on the Mediterranean islands of Sicily and Malta. It is amongst the smallest of all dwa ...
'').
* Subgenus ''Chenopis''
** † New Zealand swan, ''Cygnus sumnerensis'', an extinct species related to the black swan of Australia
* Other subgenera (see above):
** †''Cygnus atavus'' (Fraas 1870) Mlíkovský 1992 [''Anas atava'' Fraas 1870; ''Anas cygniformis'' Fraas 1870; ''Palaelodus steinheimensis'' Fraas 1870; ''Anser atavus'' (Fraas 1870) Lambrecht 1933; ''Anser cygniformis'' (Fraas 1870) Lambrecht 1933] (Middle Miocene of Germany)
** †''Cygnus csakvarensis'' Lambrecht 1933 [''Cygnus csákvárensis'' Lambrecht 1931a nomen nudum; ''Cygnanser csakvarensis'' (Lambrecht 1933) Kretzoi 1957; ''Olor csakvarensis'' (Lambrecht 1933) Mlíkovský 1992b] (Late Miocene of Hungary)
** †Dwarf swan (''Cygnus equitum'') Bate 1916 sensu Livezey 1997 'Anser equitum'' (Bate 1916) Brodkorb 1964; ''Cygnus'' (''Olor'') ''equitum'' Bate 1916 sensu Northcote 1988a(Middle – Late Pleistocene of Malta and Sicily, Mediterranean)
** † Giant swan (''Cygnus falconeri'') Parker 1865 sensu Livezey 1997a 'Cygnus melitensis'' Falconer 1868; ''Palaeocygnus falconeri'' (Parker 1865) Oberholser 1908(Middle Pleistocene of Malta and Sicily, Mediterranean)
** †''Cygnus hibbardi'' Brodkorb 1958 (?Early Pleistocene of Idaho, U.S.)
** †''Cygnus lacustris'' (De Vis 1905) 'Archaeocycnus lacustris'' De Vis 1905(Late Pleistocene of the Lake Eyre region, Australia)
** †''Cygnus liskunae'' (Kuročkin 1976) 'Anser liskunae'' Kuročkin 1976(Middle Pliocene of western Mongolia)
** †''Cygnus mariae'' Bickart 1990 (Late Miocene of Florida and Early Pliocene of Arizona, USA)
** †'' Cygnus paloregonus'' Cope 1878 'Anser condoni'' Schufeldt 1892; ''Cygnus matthewi'' Schufeldt 1913(Middle Pleistocene of west-central U.S.)
** †''Cygnus verae'' Boev 2000 (Early Pliocene of Bulgaria)
** †''Cygnus'' sp. Louchart ''et al''. 1998 (Early Pleistocene of Turkey)
** †''Cygnus'' sp. (Pleistocene of Australia)
* Other genera
** † ''Annakacygna
''Annakacygna'' is a genus of flightless marine swan from the Miocene of Japan. Named in 2022, ''Annakacygna'' displays a series of unique adaptations setting it apart from any other known swan, including a filter feeding lifestyle, a highly mobi ...
''
The supposed fossil swans ''"Cygnus" bilinicus'' and ''"Cygnus" herrenthalsi'' were, respectively, a stork
Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons and ibise ...
and some large bird of unknown affinity (due to the bad state of preservation of the referred material).
In culture
European motifs
Many of the cultural aspects refer to the mute swan of Europe. Perhaps the best-known story about a swan is the fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling
"The Ugly Duckling" () is a Danish literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875). It was first published on 11 November 1843 in '' New Fairy Tales. First Volume. First Collection'', with three other tale ...
". Swans are often a symbol of love or fidelity because of their long-lasting, apparently monogamous relationships. Swans feature prominently in two Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
operas, ''Lohengrin
Lohengrin () is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wo ...
'' and ''Parsifal
''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is freely based on the 13th-century Middle High German chivalric romance ''Parzival'' of th ...
''.
As food
Swan meat was regarded as a luxury food in England during the reign ofElizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...
. A recipe for baked swan survives from that time: "To bake a Swan Scald it and take out the bones, and parboil it, then season it very well with Pepper, Salt and Ginger, then lard it, and put it in a deep Coffin of Rye Paste with store of Butter, close it and bake it very well, and when it is baked, fill up the Vent-hole with melted Butter, and so keep it; serve it in as you do the Beef-Pie." Swans being raised for food were sometimes kept in swan pit
A swan pit is a water-filled enclosure where swans were fattened and eventually killed for human consumption.
History
From the medieval period swans were kept in ponds and were a source of income and made acceptable gifts. Selected wild cygnets ...
s.
The ''Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady
The Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady (Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap) was a religious confraternity founded in 1318 in 's-Hertogenbosch to promote the veneration of the Mother of God. The brotherhood was organized around a carved woo ...
'', a religious confraternity
A confraternity (; ) is generally a Christian voluntary association of laypeople created for the purpose of promoting special works of Christian charity or piety, and approved by the Church hierarchy. They are most common among Catholics, Lu ...
which existed in 's-Hertogenbosch
s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...
in the late Middle Ages, had "sworn members", also called "swan-brethren" because they used to donate a swan for the yearly banquet.
Based on a mistaken belief that the British monarch owns all the swans in Britain, it is popularly believed the British monarch is the only person allowed to eat swans in the United Kingdom.
Heraldics
Ancient Greece and Rome
Swans feature strongly inmythology
Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...
. In Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
, the story of Leda and the Swan
Leda and the Swan is a story and subject in art from Greek mythology in which the god Zeus, in the form of a swan, seduces Leda, a Spartan queen. According to later Greek mythology, Leda bore Helen and Polydeuces, children of Zeus, while a ...
recounts that Helen of Troy
Helen (), also known as Helen of Troy, or Helen of Sparta, and in Latin as Helena, was a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believed to have been the daughter of Zeus and Leda (mythology), ...
was conceived in a union of Zeus
Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus.
Zeus is the child ...
disguised as a swan and Leda, Queen of Sparta
Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...
.
Other references in classical literature include the belief that, upon death, the mute swan would sing beautifully—hence the phrase swan song
The swan song (; ) is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful song just before their death while they have been ...
.
The mute swan is also one of the sacred birds of Apollo
Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...
, whose associations stem both from the nature of the bird as a symbol of light, as well as the notion of a "swan song". The god is often depicted riding a chariot pulled by or composed of swans in his ascension from Delos
Delos (; ; ''Dêlos'', ''Dâlos''), is a small Greek island near Mykonos, close to the centre of the Cyclades archipelago. Though only in area, it is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. ...
.
In the second century, the Roman poet Juvenal
Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ; 55–128), was a Roman poet. He is the author of the '' Satires'', a collection of satirical poems. The details of Juvenal's life are unclear, but references in his works to people f ...
made a sarcastic reference to a good woman being a "rare bird, as rare on earth as a black swan" (black swans being completely unknown in the Northern Hemisphere until Dutch explorers reached Australia in the 1600s), from which comes the Latin phrase ' (rare bird).
Irish lore and poetry
The Irish legend of theChildren of Lir
The ''Children of Lir'' () is a legend from Irish mythology. It is a tale from the post-Christianisation period that mixes magical elements such as druidic wands and spells with a Christian message of Christian faith bringing freedom from su ...
is about a stepmother who transformed her children into swans for 900 years.
In the legend '' The Wooing of Etain'' the king of the Sidhe (subterranean-dwelling, supernatural beings) transforms himself and the most beautiful woman in Ireland, Etain, into swans to escape from the king of Ireland and Ireland's armies. The swan has recently been depicted on an Irish commemorative coin.
Swans are also present in Irish literature in the poetry of W. B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...
. "The Wild Swans at Coole" has a heavy focus on the mesmerising characteristics of the swan. Yeats also recounts the myth of Leda and the Swan in the poem of the same name.
Nordic lore
InNorse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
, two swans drink from the sacred Well of Urd in the realm of Asgard
In Nordic mythology, Asgard (Old Norse: ''Ásgarðr''; "Garden of the Æsir") is a location associated with the gods. It appears in several Old Norse sagas and mythological texts, including the Eddas, however it has also been suggested to be refe ...
, home of the gods
A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...
. According to the Prose Edda
The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...
, the water of this well is so pure and holy that all things that touch it turn white, including this original pair of swans and all others descended from them. The poem '' Volundarkvida'', or the ''Lay of Volund'', part of the Poetic Edda
The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems in alliterative verse. It is distinct from the closely related ''Prose Edda'', although both works are seminal to the study of Old Norse ...
, also features swan maidens.
In the Finnish epic ''Kalevala
The ''Kalevala'' () is a 19th-century compilation of epic poetry, compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling a story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and retaliatory ...
'', a swan lives in the Tuoni River located in Tuonela
Tuonela (; )Oinas, Felix J., and Juha Pentikäinen. "Tuonela." In ''Encyclopedia of Religion'', 2nd ed., edited by Lindsay Jones, 9396-9397. Vol. 14. Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. ''Gale eBooks'' (accessed January 3, 2021)/ref> i ...
, the underworld realm of the dead. According to the story, whoever killed a swan would perish as well. Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius (; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic music, Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his countr ...
composed the ''Lemminkäinen Suite
The ''Lemminkäinen Suite'', or more correctly ''Four Legends from the Kalevala'', Op. 22, is a sequence of four tone poems for orchestra completed in 1896 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The work was conceived as ' (''The Building of t ...
'' based on the ''Kalevala'', with the second piece entitled '' Swan of Tuonela'' ''(Tuonelan joutsen)''. Today, five flying swans are the symbol of the Nordic countries
The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...
; the whooper swan (''Cygnus cygnus'') is the national bird of Finland; and the mute swan is the national bird of Denmark.
''Swan Lake'' ballet
The ballet ''Swan Lake
''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoje ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, links=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failu ...
'' is among the most canonic of classical ballets. Based on the 1875–76 score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popula ...
, the most promulgated choreographic version was created by Marius Petipa
Marius Ivanovich Petipa (; born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa; 11 March 1818) was a French and Russian ballet dancer, pedagogue and choreographer. He is considered one of the most influential ballet masters and choreographers in ballet history ...
and Lev Ivanov
Lev Ivanovich Ivanov (; 2 March 1834, Moscow – 24 December 1901, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer and later, Second Balletmaster of the Mariinsky Ballet, Imperial Ballet. As a performer with the Mariinsky Ballet, ...
(1895), the premiere of which was danced by the Imperial Ballet at the Mariinsky Theater
The Mariinsky Theatre (, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic opera house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces ...
in St. Petersburg. The ballet's lead dual roles of Odette (white swan)/Odile (black swan) represent good and evil and are among the most challenging roles created in Romantic classical ballet. The ballet is in the repertories of ballet companies around the world.
Christianity
A swan is one of the attributes of St. Hugh of Lincoln
Hugh of Lincoln ( – 16 November 1200), also known as Hugh of Avalon, was a Burgundian-born Carthusian monk, bishop of Lincoln in the Kingdom of England, and Catholic saint. His feast is observed by Catholics on 16 November and by Anglica ...
, based on the story of a swan who was devoted to him.
Spanish language literature
InLatin American literature
Latin American literature consists of the oral and written literature of Latin America in several languages, particularly in Spanish, Portuguese, and the indigenous languages of Latin America. Latin American literature rose to particular pro ...
, the Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío
Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (18 January 1867 – 6 February 1916), known as Rubén Darío ( , ), was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as '' modernismo'' (modernism) that flourished at the end of ...
(1867–1916) consecrated the swan as a symbol of artistic inspiration by drawing attention to the constancy of swan imagery in Western culture
Western culture, also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culture, Western society, or simply the West, refers to the Cultural heritage, internally diverse culture of the Western world. The term "Western" encompas ...
, beginning with the rape of Leda and ending with Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
's ''Lohengrin''. Darío's most famous poem in this regard is ''Blasón – "Coat of Arms"'' (1896), and his use of the swan made it a symbol for the Modernismo
''Modernismo'' is a literary movement that took place primarily during the end of the nineteenth and early 20th century in the Spanish-speaking world, best exemplified by Rubén Darío, who is known as the father of ''modernismo''. The term ''m ...
poetic movement that dominated Spanish language poetry from the 1880s until the First World War. Such was the dominance of Modernismo in Spanish language poetry that the Mexican poet Enrique González Martínez
Enrique González Martínez (April 13, 1871 in Guadalajara, Jalisco – February 19, 1952 in Mexico City) was a Mexican poet, diplomat, surgeon and obstetrician. His poetry is considered to be primarily Modernist in nature, with elements of Fre ...
attempted to announce the end of Modernismo with a sonnet
A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...
provocatively entitled, ''Tuércele el cuello al cisne – "Wring the Swan's Neck"'' (1910).
Hinduism
Swans are revered inHinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...
and are compared to saintly persons whose chief characteristic is to be in the world without getting attached to it, just as a swan's feather does not get wet although it is in water. The Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
word for swan is ''hamsa'' and the "Raja Hamsam" or the Royal Swan is the vehicle of Devi Saraswati
Saraswati (, ), also spelled as Sarasvati, is one of the principal Devi, goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of knowledge, education, learning, arts, speech, poetry, music, purification, language and culture. Together with the godde ...
, which symbolises the ''Sattva Guna'' or purity par excellence. The swan, if offered a mixture of milk and water, is said to be able to drink the milk alone. Therefore, Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, is seen riding the swan because the swan thus symbolizes ''Viveka'', i.e. prudence and discrimination between the good and the bad or between the eternal and the transient. This is seen as a great quality, as shown by this Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
verse:
It is mentioned several times in the Vedic
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...
literature, and persons who have attained great spiritual capabilities are sometimes called Paramahamsa
Paramahamsa (Sanskrit: परमहंस), also spelled paramahansa or paramhansa, is a Sanskrit religio-theological title of honour applied to Hindu spiritual teachers who have become enlightened. The title literally means "supreme swan". The ...
("Supreme Swan") on account of their spiritual grace and ability to travel between various spiritual worlds. In the Vedas, swans are said to reside in the summer on Lake Manasarovar
Lake Manasarovar also called Mapam Yumtso (; ) locally, is a high altitude freshwater lake near Mount Kailash in Burang County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is located at an elevation of , near the western trijunction ...
and migrate to Indian lakes for the winter. They are believed to possess some powers, such as the ability to eat pearls.
Indo-European religions
Swans are intimately associated with thedivine twins
The Divine Twins are youthful horsemen, either gods or demigods, who serve as rescuers and healers in Proto-Indo-European mythology.
Like other Proto-Indo-European divinities, the Divine Twins are not directly attested by archaeological or writte ...
in Indo-European religions, and it is thought that in Proto-Indo-European times, swans were a solar symbol associated with the divine twins and the original Indo-European sun goddess.
See also
* Swan upping (an annual ceremony happening since the 16th century, in whichmute swan
The mute swan (''Cygnus olor'') is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurasia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, home to ...
s on the River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...
are rounded up, caught, ringed, and released, on behalf of the British Crown
The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
, the Worshipful Company of Vintners
The Worshipful Company of Vintners, one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies, retains close links with the wine trade. It traces its origins to the 12th century and received its swan rights from King Edward IV. Its motto is ''Vinum Exhi ...
and the Worshipful Company of Dyers, each of which is entitled to one-third of the Thames swans).
* Royal Swans (swans given by Queen Elizabeth II to the city of Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
in 1967, and their progeny)
References
External links
* * Louchart, Antoine; Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile; Guleç, Erksin; Howell, Francis Clark & White, Tim D. (1998): L'avifaune de Dursunlu, Turquie, Pléistocène inférieur: climat, environnement et biogéographie. '' C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris IIA'' 327(5): 341–346.rench with English abridged version
The Rench is an eastern tributary of the Rhine in the Ortenau in Central Baden, Germany. It rises on the southern edge of the Northern Black Forest at Kniebis near Bad Griesbach im Schwarzwald. The source farthest from the mouth is that of t ...
A History of British Birds
* * {{Authority control Anserinae Extant Miocene first appearances Taxa named by François Alexandre Pierre de Garsault