Magpie goose, Anseranas semipalmata
Ekstergans / Spaltfußgans / Oie semi-palmeé
A small flock of incredible characters: our magpie geese. While one camp will say magpie geese are ugly creatures, the other camp appreciates the raw beauty of these prehistoric birds from New Guinea and northern Australia. Of course, we are on that last side. And characters they are; individuals are easy to distinguish from one another, by individual behaviour, facial expression and overall appearance. Our flock of four birds includes shy, curious, affectionate and dominant animals. It's a lot of fun to work with these animals and learn more about their character every day.
Our adult breeding pair originates from a private breeder; this pair has (so far) raised one female descendant some years back. An unrelated female has come from ZSL Whipsnade Zoological Park, UK.
The magpie goose is the only species of the subfamily of Anseranatinae. These primitive stiltwalkers live near the water in Australia, but they don't often swim. They hardly have any webs contrary to other geese species. The magpie goose doesn't have an eclips moult but loses its quills divided over the year, so that it can fly all year round. Magpie geese often find a high branch to sleep on. They are quite a typical species of geese. The fact that people have doubted whether they were geese or ducks appears is clear from the two names in the scientific name: 'Anser' stands for goose and 'Anas' stands for duck. The geese lay 1 upto 16 eggs which will hatch after 26-30 days. Ring them when they are 21 days old with footrings of 16 milimeters.
This species has a large range, with an estimated global Extent of Occurrence of 100,000-1,000,000 km². It has a large global population estimated to be 1,000,000 individuals (Wetlands International 2002). Global population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
harteman.nl/anseranassemipalmata
23 окт 2022
