A goose (: geese) is a
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
of any of several
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 ...
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
in the
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
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 ...
. This group comprises the
genera
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...
''
Anser'' (grey geese and white geese) and ''
Branta
The black geese of the genus ''Branta'' are waterfowl belonging to the Goose, true geese and swans subfamily Anserinae. They occur in the northern coastal regions of the Palearctic and all over North America, Bird migration, migrating to more so ...
'' (black geese). Some members of the
Tadorninae
The Tadornini is a biological tribe that includes the shelducks and sheldgeese, which is placed in subfamily Anatinae of family Anatinae, which includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl such as the geese and swans. It has been treated a ...
subfamily (e.g.,
Egyptian goose
The Egyptian goose (''Alopochen aegyptiaca'') is an African member of the Anatidae family including ducks, geese, and swans. Because of their popularity chiefly as an ornamental bird, the species has also been introduced to Europe, the United ...
,
Orinoco goose
The Orinoco goose (''Neochen jubata'') is a Near Threatened species of waterfowl in the tribe Tadornini of subfamily Anserinae.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist ...
) are commonly called geese, but are not considered "true geese" taxonomically. More distantly related members of the family Anatidae are
swan
Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...
s, most of which are larger than true geese, 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, which are smaller.
The term "goose" may refer to such bird of either sex, but when paired with "gander", "goose" refers specifically to a female one ("gander" referring to a male). Young birds before fledging are called goslings.
[ The ]collective noun
In linguistics, a collective noun is a word referring to a collection of things taken as a whole. Most collective nouns in everyday speech are not specific to one kind of thing. For example, the collective noun "group" can be applied to people (" ...
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.
Etymology
The word "goose" is a direct descendant of Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...
''*ǵʰh₂éns''. In Germanic language
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, ...
s, the root gave Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
''gōs'' with the plural ''gēs'' and ''gandra'' (becoming Modern English goose, geese, gander, respectively), West Frisian ''goes'', ''gies'' and ''guoske'', , New High German
New High German (NHG; ) is the term used for the most recent period in the history of the German language, starting in the 17th century. It is a loan translation of the German (). The most important characteristic of the period is the developme ...
''Gans'', ''Gänse'', and ''Ganter'', and Old Norse
Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...
''gás'' and ''gæslingr'', whence English ''gosling''.
This term also gave , (goose, from ), (), , Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
and , Ancient
Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...
(), (swan
Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...
s), , , , , (), (), , and ().
True geese and their relatives
The two living genera
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...
of true geese are: '' Anser'', grey geese and white geese, such as the greylag goose
The greylag goose (''Anser anser'') is a species of large goose in the waterfowl family Anatidae and the type species of the genus ''Anser (bird), Anser''. It has mottled and barred grey and white plumage and an orange beak and pink legs. A lar ...
and snow goose
The snow goose (''Anser caerulescens'') is a species of goose native to North America. Both white and dark morphs exist, the latter often known as blue goose. Its name derives from the typically white plumage. The species was previously placed ...
, and ''Branta
The black geese of the genus ''Branta'' are waterfowl belonging to the Goose, true geese and swans subfamily Anserinae. They occur in the northern coastal regions of the Palearctic and all over North America, Bird migration, migrating to more so ...
'', black geese, such as the Canada goose
The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), sometimes called Canadian goose, is a large species of goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North A ...
.
Two genera of geese are only tentatively placed in the Anserinae; they may belong to the 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 or form a subfamily on their own: ''Cereopsis
The Cape Barren goose (''Cereopsis novaehollandiae''), sometimes also known as the pig goose, is a species of goose endemic to southern Australia. It is a distinctive large, grey bird that is mostly terrestrial and is not closely related to oth ...
'', the Cape Barren goose, and ''Cnemiornis
The New Zealand goose is a bird of the extinct genus ''Cnemiornis'' of the family Anatidae, subfamily Anserinae. The genus, endemic to New Zealand, consisted of two species: the North Island goose, ''C. gracilis'' and the South Island goose ''C. ...
'', the prehistoric New Zealand goose. Either these or, more probably, the goose-like 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 ...
is the closest living relative of the true geese.
Fossil
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 preserve ...
s of true geese are hard to assign to genus; all that can be said is that their fossil record, particularly in North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
, is dense and comprehensively documents many different species of true geese that have been around since about 10 million years ago
Million years ago, abbreviated as Mya, Myr (megayear) or Ma (megaannum), is a unit of time equal to (i.e. years), or approximately 31.6 teraseconds.
Usage
Myr is in common use in fields such as Earth science and cosmology. Myr is also used w ...
in the Miocene
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 ...
. The aptly named ''Anser atavus'' (meaning "progenitor goose") from some 12 million years ago had even more plesiomorph
In phylogenetics, a plesiomorphy ("near form") and symplesiomorphy are synonyms for an ancestral Phenotypic trait, character shared by all members of a clade, which does not distinguish the clade from other clades.
Plesiomorphy, symplesiomorph ...
ies in common with swans. In addition, some goose-like birds are known from subfossil
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 ...
remains found on the Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...
.
Geese are monogamous
Monogamy ( ) is a relationship of two individuals in which they form a mutual and exclusive intimate partnership. Having only one partner at any one time, whether for life or serial monogamy, contrasts with various forms of non-monogamy (e.g. ...
, 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.
Fossil record
Goose fossils have been found ranging from 10 to 12 million years ago (Middle Miocene). '' Garganornis ballmanni'' from Late Miocene
The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million ye ...
(~ 6–9 Ma) of Gargano
Gargano () is a historical and geographical sub-region in the province of Foggia, Apulia, southeast Italy, consisting of a wide isolated mountain massif made of highland and several peaks and forming the backbone of a promontory projecting into ...
region of central Italy, stood one and a half meters tall and weighed about 22 kilograms. The evidence suggests the bird was flightless, unlike modern geese.
Migratory patterns
Most goose species are migratory, though populations of Canada geese living near human developments may remain in a locality year-round. These 'resident' geese, found primarily in the eastern United States, may migrate only short distances, or not at all, if they have adequate food supply and access to open water.
Navigation
Migratory geese may use several environmental cues in timing the beginning of their migration, including temperature, predation threat, and food availability. Like all migratory birds, geese exhibit an ability to navigate using an internal compass, using a combination of innate and learned behaviors. The preferred direction of migration is heritable, and birds appear to orient themselves using Earth's magnetic field. Migrations occur over the course of several weeks, and up to 85% of migration time is spent at perennial stopover sites, where individuals rest and build up fat stores for further travel.
Formation
Geese, like other birds, fly in a V formation
A V formation is a symmetric V- or Chevron (insignia), chevron-shaped Formation flying, flight formation. In nature, it occurs among goose, geese, swans, ducks, and other bird migration, migratory birds while in human aviation it is used mostly ...
. This formation helps to conserve energy in flight, and aids in communication and monitoring of flock mates. Using great white pelican
The great white pelican (''Pelecanus onocrotalus'') also known as the eastern white pelican, rosy pelican or simply white pelican is a bird in the pelican family. It breeds from southeastern Europe through Asia and Africa, in swamps and shallow ...
s as a model species, researchers showed that flying in a V formation increased the aerodynamics of trailing birds, thus requiring fewer wing flaps to stay aloft and lowering individuals' heartrates. Leading geese switch positions on longer flights to allow for multiple individuals to gain benefits from the less energy-intensive trailing positions; in family groups, parental birds almost always lead.
Other birds called "geese"
Some mainly Southern Hemisphere birds are called "geese", most of which belong to the 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 ...
subfamily Tadorninae
The Tadornini is a biological tribe that includes the shelducks and sheldgeese, which is placed in subfamily Anatinae of family Anatinae, which includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl such as the geese and swans. It has been treated a ...
. These are:
* The Orinoco goose
The Orinoco goose (''Neochen jubata'') is a Near Threatened species of waterfowl in the tribe Tadornini of subfamily Anserinae.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist ...
(''Neochen jubata'')
* The Egyptian goose
The Egyptian goose (''Alopochen aegyptiaca'') is an African member of the Anatidae family including ducks, geese, and swans. Because of their popularity chiefly as an ornamental bird, the species has also been introduced to Europe, the United ...
(''Alopochen aegyptiaca'')
* The South American sheldgeese in the genus ''Chloephaga''
* The prehistoric
Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...
Malagasy sheldgoose (''Centrornis majori'')
Others:
* The spur-winged goose
The spur-winged goose (''Plectropterus gambensis'') is a large, Sub-Saharan African waterbird in the family Anatidae, which includes geese and shelducks. However, ''P. gambensis'' developed unique environmental adaptations, which resulted in t ...
(''Plectropterus gambensis'') is most closely related to the shelducks, but distinct enough to warrant its own subfamily, the Plectropterinae.
* The blue-winged goose (''Cyanochen cyanopterus'') and the Cape Barren goose
The Cape Barren goose (''Cereopsis novaehollandiae''), sometimes also known as the pig goose, is a species of goose endemic to southern Australia. It is a distinctive large, grey bird that is mostly terrestrial and is not closely related to oth ...
(''Cereopsis novaehollandiae'') have disputed affinities. They belong to separate ancient lineages that may ally either to the Tadorninae
The Tadornini is a biological tribe that includes the shelducks and sheldgeese, which is placed in subfamily Anatinae of family Anatinae, which includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl such as the geese and swans. It has been treated a ...
, the 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 ...
, or closer to the dabbling ducks (Anatinae).
* The three species of small waterfowl in the genus ''Nettapus
Pygmy geese are a group of very small "perching ducks" in the genus ''Nettapus'' which breed in the Old World tropics. They are the smallest of all Anseriformes, wildfowl. As the "perching ducks" are a paraphyletic group, they need to be placed e ...
'' named "pygmy geese"; they seem to represent another ancient lineage, with possible affinities to the Cape Barren goose or the spur-winged goose.
* The maned goose
The Australian wood duck, maned duck or maned goose (''Chenonetta jubata'') is a dabbling duck found throughout much of Australia. It is the only living species in the genus ''Chenonetta''. Traditionally placed in the subfamily Anatinae (dabbling ...
, also known as the maned duck or Australian wood duck (''Chenonetta jubata'')
* A genus of prehistorically 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 ...
seaduck
The sea ducks (Mergini) are a tribe of the duck subfamily of birds, the Anatinae. The taxonomy of this group is incomplete. Some authorities separate the group as a subfamily, while others remove some genera. Most species within the group spend ...
s, ''Chendytes
''Chendytes lawi'' is an extinct, goose-sized flightless marine duck, once common on the California coast, the California Channel Islands, and possibly southern Oregon. It lived in the Pleistocene and survived into the Holocene. It appears to ha ...
'', is sometimes called the "diving-geese" due to their large size.
* The magpie goose
The magpie goose (''Anseranas semipalmata'') is the sole living representative species of the family Anseranatidae. This common waterbird is found in northern Australia and southern New Guinea. As the species is prone to wandering, especially ...
(''Anseranas semipalmata'') is the only living species in the family Anseranatidae
Anseranatidae, the magpie-geese, is a biological family of waterbirds. The only living species, the magpie goose, is a resident breeder in northern Australia and in southern New Guinea.
Systematics and evolution
This family is placed in the orde ...
.
* The northern gannet
The northern gannet (''Morus bassanus'') is a seabird, the largest species of the gannet family, Sulidae. It is native to the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, breeding in Western Europe and Northeastern North America. It is the largest seabird in t ...
(''Morus bassanus''), a seabird, is also known as the "solan goose", although it is unrelated to the true geese, or any other Anseriformes
Anseriformes is an order (biology), 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 f ...
for that matter.
In popular culture
Sayings and phrases that reference geese
* To "have a gander" is to look at something.
* "What's good sauce for the goose is good sauce for the gander" or "What's good for the goose is good for the gander" means that what is an appropriate treatment for one person is equally appropriate for someone else. This statement supporting equality is frequently used in the context of sex and gender, because a goose is female and a gander is male.
* Saying that someone's "goose is cooked" means that they are about to be punished.
* The common phrase "silly goose" is used when referring to someone who is acting particularly silly.
* " Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs", derived from Aesop's Fables
Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a Slavery in ancient Greece, slave and storyteller who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 Before the Common Era, BCE. Of varied and unclear origins, the stor ...
, is a saying referring to a greed-motivated action that destroys or otherwise renders useless a favourable situation that would have provided benefits over time.
* "A wild goose chase" is a useless, futile waste of time and effort. It is derived from a 16th-century horse racing event.
* A raised, rounded area of swelling (typically a hematoma
A hematoma, also spelled haematoma, or blood suffusion is a localized bleeding outside of blood vessels, due to either disease or trauma including injury or surgery and may involve blood continuing to seep from broken capillaries. A hematoma is ...
) caused by an impact injury is sometimes metaphorically called a "goose egg", especially if it occurs on the head.
Geese as characters in cultural works
* Mother Goose
Mother Goose is a character that originated in children's fiction, as the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales and later of English nursery rhymes. She also appeared in a song, the first stanza of which often functions now as ...
is a fictitious children's storybook author associated with several collections of fairy tales and nursery rhymes translated into English during the 18th century.
* ''Gänsewein'' (German, ) is a playful term for plain drinking water, first documented the ''Podagrammisch Trostbüchlein'' by Johann Fischart
Johann Baptist Fischart (c. 1545 – 1591) was a German satirist and publicist.
Biography
Fischart was born, probably, at Strasbourg (but according to some accounts at Mainz), in or about the year 1545, and was educated at Worms in the house of ...
(1577).
* Popular indie game
An indie video game or indie game (short for independent video game) is a video game created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A ...
Untitled Goose Game released in 2019 chronicles the activities of an ornery goose in an English village.
* In the late 18th century poem, The Goose and the Common
"The Goose and the Common", also referred to as "Stealing the Common from the Goose", is a poem written by an unknown author that makes a social commentary on the Social justice, social injustice caused by the privatization of Commons, common lan ...
, geese serve to illustrate the social and economic issues cased by the enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...
of common
Common may refer to:
As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin.
Places
* Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
* Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts
* Cambridge Com ...
land.
"Gray Goose Laws" in Iceland
The oldest collection of Medieval Icelandic laws is known as ''"Grágás"''; i.e., the ''Gray Goose Laws
The Gray Goose Laws ( {{IPA, is, ˈkrauːˌkauːs}) are a collection of laws from the Icelandic Commonwealth period. The term ''Grágás'' was originally used in a medieval source to refer to a collection of Norwegian laws and was probably mi ...
''. Various etymologies were offered for that name:
* The fact that the laws were written with a goose quill;
* The fact that the laws were bound in goose skin;
* Because of the age of the laws — it was then believed that geese lived longer than other birds.[Byock, Jesse L. "Grágás: ''The 'Grey Goose' Law'' in ''Viking Age Iceland'' London: Penguin, 2001.]
Gallery
File:White Duck standing on a concrete platform near a pond.jpg, A domestic goose standing on a concrete platform at Kamalpokhari, Nepal.
File:Canada goose gosling - natures pics.jpg, Canada goose
The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), sometimes called Canadian goose, is a large species of goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North A ...
gosling
File:Branta canadensis in flight, Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.jpg, Canada geese in flight, Great Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary
File:Goose breastbone.jpg, Goose breastbone, the colour of the bones after cooking was used to predict how cold winter would be in Lincolnshire folkloric traditions ( North Lincolnshire Museum)
See also
* Angel wing, a disease common in geese
* Domestic goose
A domestic goose is a goose that humans have domesticated and kept for their meat, eggs, or down feathers, or as companion animals. Domestic geese have been derived through selective breeding from the wild greylag goose (''Anser anser domesticu ...
, which includes cooking and folklore
* Flying geese paradigm
* List of Anseriformes by population
This is a list of Anseriformes species by global population. While numbers are estimates, they have been made by the experts in their fields.
Anseriformes (Anser being Latin for ''"goose"'') is the taxonomic order to which the ducks, goose, geese ...
* List of goose breeds
__NOTOC__
This list contains breeds and landraces of domestic geese as well as species with semi-domestic populations. Geese are bred mainly for their meat, which is particularly popular in Germanic languages countries around Christmas. Of lesser ...
* Roast goose
Roast goose is cooking goose meat using dry heat with hot air enveloping it evenly on all sides. Many varieties of roast goose appear in cuisines around the world, including Cantonese, European, and Middle Eastern cuisines. Roasting can enhance ...
* 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 ...
* Wildfowl
The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating o ...
* '' Untitled Goose Game'', a 2019 video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
centering around a goose that takes place in a middle-class village in England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
.
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Anatidae media
on the Internet Bird Collection
{{Authority control
Bird common names