Species group · Birds

Geese

WAnimals has 4 species of goose, spread across 2 families (Anatidae, Anseranatidae).

4 species

2 families

55 countries

61 parks

Ranges calculated from the entries that record the figure, not from all 4.

All 4 species of geese on WAnimals

Each one has its own full entry. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Egyptian Goose

Alopochen aegyptiaca

Snow Goose

Anser caerulescens

Magpie Goose

Anseranas semipalmata

Domestic Goose

Anser anser domesticus

3 Least Concern1 Not Evaluated

No species documented in this group is genuinely at risk according to the IUCN, with the data available today.

Recorded in 55 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

It appears in ancient Egyptian paintings; today it is invasive in several European countries.
From Egyptian Goose
Its scientific name means "fox-goose", from the Greek alopex, fox, and chen, goose, for the reddish tone of its back.
From Egyptian Goose
In ancient Egypt it was considered sacred and it appears in papyri and illustrations; the Greeks and Romans also kept it in their domestic flocks.
From Egyptian Goose
It migrates in flocks of hundreds of thousands that turn the sky white.
From Snow Goose
The colour morph is controlled by a single genetic locus in which the dark allele is incompletely dominant over the white.
From Snow Goose
The breeding colonies of the dark morph were not discovered until 1929, after a deliberate search by Dewey Soper that lasted six years and covered more than 48,000 km.
From Snow Goose
It is the only anseriform in the world that is not left unable to fly during the moult: it renews its flight feathers gradually, while ducks, geese and swans spend weeks unable to take off.
From Magpie Goose
It is frequently polygamous: a male lives permanently with two females that lay in the same nest and raise the brood together, a trio that can last for years.
From Magpie Goose