I pass a pond with a pair of breeding swans one white and the other black. Is the black swan a unique breed or just a abbration of nature?
Answers:
A dirty one :)
They are Australian in origin and smaller than the swans usually found in UK. They are highly Territorial and will attack
and kill other swans to protect their territory...
Unique, they are called Hooper swans and it's pretty unheard of for them to mate with a whitey.
There are black swans and white swans but it is unusual to find them as a pair.
It's only a unique breed to the US. They're native to australia and you'll often see them in parks and zoos where they're brought over simply because they're exotic and beautiful (as are all swans, in my opinion).
The Black Swan, Cygnus atratus is a large waterbird which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. The Black Swan was formerly placed into a monotypic genus, Chenopis.
鈥楽wan鈥?is the common gender term, but 鈥榗ob鈥?for a male and 鈥榩en鈥?for a female are also used, as is 鈥榗ygnet鈥?for the young [1]. Collective nouns include a 鈥榖ank鈥?(on the ground) and a 鈥榳edge鈥?(in flight).[2] Black Swans can be found singly, or in loose companies numbering into the hundreds or even thousands. [3]
They are a unique breed, and the official bird of Western Aaustralia. You can read about them at these websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/black_swan... http://birding.about.com/od/birdsswans/a...
http://www.austmus.gov.au/factsheets/bla...
The black swans are unique in Australia but not in the UK and thats why I could'nt see them in my book of British birds. But I can tell you of three different kinds of white swans in the UK.
BEWICK'S SWAN; Cygnus Bewickii. A winter visitor to Britain like the Whooper swan which it resembles. It can be distinguished by it's smaller size,shorter neck and goose like honking. Very large at 122cm.
WHOOPER SWAN;Cygnus Cygnus. Herds of this straight necked swans are winter visitors,to Britains lochs,bogs and coastal mudflats. They are noisy birds both when feeding and in flight and keep up a medley of bugling notes a like those of the cuckoo. At close range the extensive yellow on the beak can clearly be seen. Very large at 152cm.
MUTE SWAN;Cygnus Olor. A British resident about the same size s the whooper swan,but with gracefully cuved neck. It's great wings produce a unmistakable rhythmic clamour as it flies and it's orange coloured beak,with a prominent basal knob,is distinctive at close range.During the breeding season,the male,which is usually silent,snorts and hisses and 'busks'it wings to warn rival males of the nesting territory where it's mate sits on an enormous heap of water weed. Very large at 152cm.
Black swans originate from Australia Peter Scot has some Black swans at his wildfowl and wetlands trust sites I E Slimbridge, in Gloucestershire and Arendal in sussex. as far as breeding goes I don' think the black swan will mate with a white one and visa versa.
Black swans are from here (Perth, Australia) they're everywhere %26 are our state emblem.
They're NOT unique here LOL
The Black Swan is Indigenous to Australia they may be partners but there are no records of them breeding with our Mute Swan.
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