Whooper swan
Whooper swan | |
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Calls recorded in County Cork, Ireland | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Anseriformes |
Family: | Anatidae |
Genus: | Cygnus |
Species: | C. cygnus
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Binomial name | |
Cygnus cygnus | |
Range of C. cygnus Breeding range Year-round range Wintering range
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Synonyms | |
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The whooper swan (
Taxonomy
Francis Willughby and John Ray's Ornithology of 1676 referred to this swan as "the Elk, Hooper, or wild Swan".[2]: 23 It was one of the many bird species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in the 1758 10th edition of his Systema Naturae, where it was given the binomial name of Anas cygnus.[3] The species name is from cygnus, the Latin for "swan".[4]
Description
The whooper swan is similar in appearance to
Distribution and habitat
Whooper swans require large areas of water to live in, especially when they are still growing because their body weight cannot be supported by their legs for extended periods. The whooper swan spends much of its time swimming, straining the water for food, or eating plants that grow on the bottom.[8]
Whooper swans have a deep honking call that resembles geese and, despite their size, are powerful fliers. Whooper swans can
Whooper swans pair for life, and their cygnets stay with them all winter; they are sometimes joined by offspring from previous years. Their preferred breeding habitat is wetland, but semi-domesticated birds will build a nest anywhere close to water. Both the male and female help build the nest, and the male will stand guard over the nest while the female incubates. The female will usually lay 4–7 eggs (exceptionally 12). The cygnets hatch after about 36 days and have a grey or brown plumage. The cygnets can fly at an age of 120 to 150 days.
When whooper swans prepare to go on a flight as a flock, they use a variety of signaling movements to communicate with each other. These movements include head bobs, head shakes, and wing flaps and influence whether the flock will take flight and if so, which individual will take the lead.[10] Whooper swans that signaled with these movements in large groups were found to be able to convince their flock to follow them 61% of the time.[10] In comparison, swans that did not signal were only able to create a following 35% of the time.[10] In most cases, the whooper swan in the flock that makes the most movements (head bobs) is also the swan that initiates the flight of the flock – this initiator swan can be either male or female, but is more likely to be a parent than a cygnet.[10] Additionally, this signaling method may be a way for paired mates to stay together in flight. Observational evidence indicates that a swan whose mate is paying attention to and participates in its partner's signals will be more likely to follow through with the flight. Thus, if a whooper swan begins initiating flight signals, it will be less likely to actually carry through with the flight if its mate is not paying attention and is therefore less likely to join it.[10]
They are very noisy; the calls are strident, similar to those of Bewick's swan but more resonant and lower-pitched on average: kloo-kloo-kloo in groups of three or four.
Influence
Whooper swans are much admired in Europe.
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Whooper swan in Regent's Park, London, England
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Whooper swans near Kilfenora, County Clare, Ireland
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Young whooper swan at Lake Kussharo, Japan
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Young whooper swans with parents at Stawinoga ponds, Poland
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Mute swans with orange bills and whooper swans with yellow bills
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Cygnus cygnus –MHNT
References
- . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ Willughby, Francis (1676). Ornithologiae libri tres [Ornithology, Book Three] (in Latin). London: John Martyn.
- ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata (in Latin). Holmiae (Stockholm, Sweden): Laurentius Salvius. p. 122.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ISBN 978-0-7136-6570-3.
- ISBN 978-0-8493-4258-5.
- ISBN 978-0-395-46726-8.
- ^ a b Mondadori, Arnoldo, ed. (1988). Great Book of the Animal Kingdom. New York: Arch Cape Press. pp. 182–183.
- ^ "Whooper Swan sighted in Himachal Wetland after 113 years. | Hill Post". Hillpost.in. 30 January 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
- ^ doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.1988.tb00707.x. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-01-03.
- ^ "Whooper Swan". wwf.panda.org. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
- ^ "Laulujoutsen tuli erämaista koko Suomen kansallislinnuksi". Suomen Luonto.
- ^ "Bird flu swan was from outside UK". BBC News. 11 April 2006.
External links
- Whooper Swan Page RSPB
- Cygnus cygnus in Field Guide: Birds of the World on Flickr
- "Cygnus cygnus". Avibase.
- BirdLife species factsheet for Cygnus cygnus
- "Whooper swan media". Internet Bird Collection.
- Whooper swan photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
- Interactive range map of Cygnus cygnus at IUCN Red List maps
- Audio recordings of Whooper swan on Xeno-canto.