Anseriform

Anseriform, any of more than 160 species constituting the bird order Anseriformes, which comprises the ducks, geese, and swans (family Anatidae) and the screamers (the three species of family Anhimidae). Anatidae comprises about 147 species of medium to large birds, usually associated with freshwater or marine habitats. This family is known collectively as waterfowl (in the United States) or wildfowl (in Europe). The three species of screamers are quite different from waterfowl in general appearance. They are moderately long-legged birds about the size of a turkey, with chickenlike beaks and exceptionally large feet.

Anseriforms are of interest for various reasons. Not only do their mass migrations symbolize the change of seasons to peoples in temperate areas of the world but their annual voyages have long been studied by ornithologists to determine the mechanisms that make these navigational and metabolic feats possible. To the sport hunter many ducks and geese are challenging and worthwhile quarry; domesticated members of the order are reared for meat and feathers, but to the farmer other species are considered pests and crop spoilers. Both domestic and wild anseriforms are occasionally reservoirs of disease. The conservationist views them as biological indicators of the quality of wetlands and, like those habitats, in need of attention.

General features

Members of the Anatidae vary greatly in size, the largest being some 60 times heavier than the smallest. Most are rather chunky birds, from about 30 cm (1 foot) in length and 250 grams (0.5 pound) in weight in the African pygmy goose (Nettapus auritus) to 1.5 metres (5 feet) in length and weighing more than 17 kg (37 pounds) with a 2-metre (6.6-foot) wingspan in the trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator). The neck is medium to long. The bill is of medium length, typically broad and somewhat flattened, with a rounded tip, often with a pronounced “nail,” giving a slight hook to the tip. The form of the bill, however, varies widely, befitting birds with diets as different as grass, fish, and minute plankton. The bill is often fringed with fine lamellae, short parallel plates at the edges of the mandibles that aid in food handling and, in some species, in straining tiny food organisms from water or mud.

Discover how ordinary objects work, and expand your understanding of the familiar.

SIGN UP

" height="20" alt="HEW Logo">

Thank you for signing up!"

Back to homepage

By clicking "Sign Up", you consent to the Britannica Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Anseriform behaviour patterns are an intriguing mixture of the innate and the learned. Some behaviours are so fixed that they can be used as taxonomic characteristics, whereas others are so pliable that completely new traditions can evolve within a few generations.

Anseriforms breed on every major continent and island except in the Antarctic, and many undertake vast migrations, flying thousands of kilometres. Some species are widespread and number in the millions; others are represented by a few hundred individuals confined to a few islands. In the former category are the pintail (Anas acuta) and the mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), both found throughout the Northern Hemisphere; in the latter are the Hawaiian goose, or nene (Branta sandvicensis), and the Madagascar white-eye (Aythya innotata). Extinction has taken at least six species within the last century, with another three likely extinct, having not been seen for a number of years. The Hawaiian goose was once down to fewer than 50 birds, the Laysan race of the mallard to 7 individuals. The creation of wetland refuges has helped to restore these and other declining populations. Nonetheless, even the more common waterfowl, which teem in thousands at certain times and places, are not secure from drastic declines in numbers.

Britannica Quiz

Ultimate Animals Quiz

Importance to humans

The large size of waterfowl has made them from prehistoric times inevitable quarry for humans. Not only do they provide protein but also large amounts of fat and feathers, especially down, much prized in colder regions. Among the unusual uses of waterfowl parts may be mentioned the conversion of swan tracheae into children’s whistles in Lapland and the eating of the of the king eider’s (Somateria spectabilis) billknob as an aphrodisiac in Greenland. Wary and difficult to approach in their watery haunts, waterfowl required ingenuity to take them before the advent of efficient weapons. The period of flightlessness was discovered early and exploited by driving the birds into corrals of stone or netting. From the latter evolved the Dutch method of catching full-winged ducks by enticing them up large net-covered pipes leading from a secluded pond where a decoy duck was placed. Many other ingenious traps were devised, from the clapnets of the ancient Egyptians to the rocket-propelled nets of today’s research workers.

In view of their ready adaptation to captivity, it is surprising that few waterfowl have been domesticated. The mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) was exploited 2,000 years ago in China, and 17 varieties have been developed, according to whether meat or egg production is important. The muscovy duck (Cairina moschata) was domesticated in Colombia and Peru before the arrival of the conquistadores. The greylag goose (Anser anser) has been domesticated for at least 4,000 years; Egyptian frescoes of that age already show changes in shape from the natural form, and eight main varieties are now known. The swan goose (Anser cygnoides) of eastern Asia has also been domesticated, with three varieties. Other species, such as the Canada goose (Branta canadensis), the mute swan, and the Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus), have been kept in semidomestication for ease of exploitation but without intensive breeding to change their forms. A remarkable form of exploitation has been that of the common eider (Somateria mollissima). Its breeding colonies in the Arctic and subarctic are protected and concentrated by the provision of nest sites and other techniques. The down with which the female lines her nest and covers the eggs is systematically collected during and after incubation without disturbance or loss of productivity, for these birds are very tame.

Explore Britannica Premium!

The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.

SUBSCRIBE

Anseriform populations are threatened by the loss of their essential wetland habitats, and they are no longer able to withstand commercial exploitation. This is generally recognized in a great many countries where market hunting is banned and efforts are made to control sport hunting so that annual kill does not exceed annual production. As waterfowl migrations pay no heed to national boundaries, the need for international agreement on their conservation is paramount.

A great flock of waterfowl is one of the remaining spectacles of nature and one that can be made accessible to crowds of people led through covered approaches to concealing blinds. Such refuges must be numerous and large enough to give adequate feeding grounds. Extra food, however, can be provided as standing crops or distributed from stores. In these ways damage to agricultural interests can be avoided. Complaints of such damage are frequently exaggerated, for in many countries migratory waterfowl arrive after the harvests have been gathered and take only spilled or rejected grain and tubers, thus actually performing a useful cleaning operation. Conflicts can arise, but these can be resolved by changes in husbandry and by techniques of scaring the birds from the fields without injuring them.

Anseriforms spend much time walking, swimming, or diving, so they are less inconvenienced than most other birds by being pinioned (removal of the tip of one wing) to prevent flight. They can then therefore be kept in open paddocks instead of being confined in cages. Zoos and private aviculturists maintain waterfowl collections of varying size, the largest being that of The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, Slimbridge, England. There almost 200 species have been maintained, and more than 100 have bred. Such a remarkably complete comparative collection has been useful for educational and research purposes. Breeding in captivity also enhances the possibility of restoring wild populations that have been diminished. The most notable case has been that of the Hawaiian goose (Branta sandvicensis). In 1950 about 30 of these birds existed. Twenty years later, thanks to avicultural efforts at Slimbridge and in Hawaii, there were more than a thousand, several hundred of which were released in original habitat, where they have sustained their numbers. Hunting organizations such as Ducks Unlimited conserve wetlands to maintain populations that can replace birds shot. Several species of geese and ducks have responded well to the manipulation of habitat and the provision of nest sites. Artificially encouraged breeding may well become vital as the hitherto-untouched vastness of northern marshes and tundras, where so many waterfowl breed, are opened up, destroyed, or polluted.