From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Whooper Swan Conservation status Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1] Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Genus: Cygnus
Species: C. cygnus
Binomial name Cygnus cygnus
(Linnaeus, 1758)      Summer      Resident      Winter

The Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus) is a large Northern Hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American Trumpeter Swan.

Contents

• 1 Description
• 2 Distribution and behaviour
• 3 Other information
• 4 References
• 5 External links

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Description

The Whooper Swan is similar in appearance to the Bewicks Swan. However, it is larger, at a length of 140–160 centimetres (55–63 in), a wingspan of 205–275 centimetres (81–108 in) and a weight range of 8–20 kilograms (18–44 lb). It has a more angular head shape and a more variable bill pattern that always shows more yellow than black (Bewicks Swans have more black than yellow).

Three Whooper Swans and one Mute Swan

Distribution and behaviour

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 of time. The whooper swan spends much of its time swimming, straining the water for food, or eating plants that grow on the bottom.[2]

Whooper swans have a deep honking call and, despite their size, are powerful fliers. Whooper swans can migrate many hundreds of miles to their wintering sites in northern Europe and eastern Asia. They breed in subarctic Eurasia, further south than Bewicks in the taiga zone. They are rare breeders in northern Scotland, particularly in Orkney, and no more than five pairs have bred there in recent years. This bird is an occasional vagrant to western North America. Icelandic breeders overwinter in England and Ireland, especially in the wildfowl nature reserves of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.

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.

Whooper Swans are much admired in European culture.[2]

Other information

• The global spread of H5N1 reached the UK in April 2006 in the form of a dead Whooper Swan found in Scotland.[3]
• The Whooper Swan is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
• The Whooper Swan is also the national bird of Finland and is featured on the Finnish 1 euro coin.
• An old name for the Whooper Swan is Elk; it is so called in Francis Willughby and John Rays Ornithology of 1676.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cygnus cygnus Wikispecies has information related to: Cygnus cygnus

• Cygnus cygnus in the Flickr: Field Guide Birds of the World
• Cygnus cygnus on Avibase
• Whooper Swan videos, photos & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection

Categories: IUCN Red List least concern species | Cygnus | Migratory birds (Eastern hemisphere) | Swans | Birds of Europe | British Isles coastal fauna | National symbols of FinlandHidden categories: Articles with species microformats© 以上材料来自 维基百科 所有文字内容在Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License下发布.