{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{Redirect|Greylag|the Thoroughbred race horse|Grey Lag|the ''Admirable''-class minesweeper|USS Graylag (AM-364){{!}}USS ''Graylag'' (AM-364)}} {{Good article}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Piacenzian|present|ref={{efn|Fossil remains are known from between 2.59 and 0.13 million years ago.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anser anser |url=https://www.mindat.org/taxon-2498036.html |date=11 Jul 2025 |access-date=17 Sep 2025 |website=www.mindat.org |language=en}}</ref>}}}} | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref>{{cite iucn |title=''Anser anser'' |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |article-number=e.T22679889A131907747 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22679889A131907747.en |access-date=15 February 2022}}</ref> | image = Greylag Goose - St James's Park, London - Nov 2006.jpg | image_caption = {{nowrap|In St James's Park, London, England}} | image2 = Anser anser - Greylag Goose XC436358.mp3 | image2_caption = Calls of two flying geese in the midnight in the Netherlands. | genus = Anser | species = anser | authority = (Linnaeus, 1758) | subdivision_ranks = Subspecies | subdivision = *''A. a. anser'' <small>(Linnaeus, 1758)</small><br/><small>Western greylag goose</small> *''A. a. rubrirostris'' <small>R. Swinhoe, 1871</small><br/><small>Eastern greylag goose</small> | synonyms = *''Anas anser'' <small>Linnaeus, 1758</small> *''Anser cinereus'' <small>Meyer</small> | range_map = Anser anser distribution map.png | range_map_caption = Range map of greylag goose<br/>Green: breeding, orange: non-breeding }}
The '''greylag goose''' ('''''Anser anser''''') is a species of large goose in the waterfowl family Anatidae and the type species of the genus ''Anser''. It has mottled and barred grey and white plumage and an orange beak and pink legs. A large bird, it measures between {{convert|74|and|91|cm}} in length, with an average weight of {{convert|3.3|kg|lboz}}. Its distribution is widespread, with birds from the north of its range in Europe and Asia often migrating southwards to spend the winter in warmer places, although many populations are resident, even in the north. It is the ancestor of most breeds of domestic goose, having been domesticated at least as early as 1360 BCE. The genus name and specific epithet are from ''anser'', the Latin for "goose". In the USA, its name has been spelled "graylag".
Greylag geese travel to their northerly breeding grounds in spring, nesting on moorlands, in marshes, around lakes and on coastal islands. They normally mate for life and nest on the ground among vegetation. A clutch of three to five eggs is laid; the female incubates the eggs and both parents defend and rear the young. The birds stay together as a family group, migrating southwards in autumn as part of a flock, and separating the following year. During the winter they occupy semi-aquatic habitats, estuaries, marshes and flooded fields, feeding on grass and often consuming agricultural crops. Some populations, such as those in southern England and in urban areas across the species' range, are primarily resident and occupy the same area year-round.
==Taxonomy== The greylag goose was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the ducks in the genus ''Anas'' and coined the binomial name ''Anas anser''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=123 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727028 }}</ref> The specific epithet is Latin meaning "goose".<ref>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher = Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 |page = [https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n48/mode/1up 48]}}</ref> The greylag goose is now one of 11 geese placed in the genus ''Anser'' that was erected in 1860 by the French naturalist Mathurin Jacques Brisson.<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=July 2023 | title=Screamers, ducks, geese & swans | work=IOC World Bird List Version 13.2 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/waterfowl/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=23 December 2023 }}</ref> It is the type species of the genus.<ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1979 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=1 | edition=2nd | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=434 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16109074 }}</ref>
Two subspecies are recognised: ''A. a. anser'', the western greylag goose, which breeds in Iceland and northern and central Europe, and ''A. a. rubrirostris'', the eastern greylag goose, which breeds in Romania, Turkey, and Russia eastwards to northeastern China.<ref name=ioc/> The two subspecies intergrade where their ranges meet. The greylag goose sometimes hybridises with other species of goose, including the barnacle goose (''Branta leucopsis'') and the Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), and occasionally with the mute swan (''Cygnus olor'').<ref name=Carboneras/> The greylag goose was one of the first animals to be domesticated; this happened at least 3,000 years ago in Ancient Egypt. Domesticated birds are sometimes known as "''A. a. domesticus''",<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hugo |first1=Susanne |editor1=Buckland, Roger |editor2=Guy, Gérard |title=Geese: the underestimated species |publisher=FAO Agriculture Department |year=2002 |chapter=Chapter 1: Origins and Breeds of Domestic Geese |series=Fao Animal Production and Health Paper |chapter-url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/V6200T/v6200T0n.htm |issn=0254-6019 }}</ref> though this is not an accepted subspecies name.<ref name=ioc/> As the domestic goose is derived from the greylag goose, they are able to interbreed, with the offspring sharing characteristics of both wild and domestic birds.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.waterfowl.org.uk/keeping-geese.html |title=Domestic Geese |publisher=British Waterfowl Association |access-date=2 June 2016 |archive-date=19 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319053516/http://waterfowl.org.uk/keeping-geese.html }}</ref>
==Description== thumb|left|Head of an adult The greylag is the largest and bulkiest of the grey geese of the genus ''Anser'', but is more lightly built and agile than its domestic relative. It has a rotund, bulky body, a thick and long neck, and a large head and bill. It has pink legs and feet, and an orange or pink bill with a white or brown nail (hard horny material at tip of upper mandible).<ref name="Madge"/> It is {{convert|74|to|91|cm}} long with a wing length of {{convert|41.2|to|48|cm|in|frac=4}}. It has a tail {{convert|6.2|to|6.9|cm|in|frac=16}}, a bill of {{convert|6.4|to|6.9|cm|in|frac=16}} long, and a tarsus of {{convert|7.1|to|9.3|cm|in|frac=16}}. It weighs {{convert|2.16|to|4.56|kg|lboz}}, with a mean weight of around {{convert|3.3|kg|lboz}}. The wingspan is {{convert|147|to|180|cm}}.<ref name="CRC"/><ref name=Ogilvie/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-greylag-goose.html|access-date=17 October 2011|title=Greylag Goose|work=oiseaux-birds.com}}</ref> Males are generally larger than females, with the sexual dimorphism more pronounced in the eastern subspecies ''A. a. rubirostris'', which is larger than the nominate subspecies on average.<ref name="Madge"/>
[[File:Eastern Greylag Geese (Anser anser rubrirostris) (20754135376).jpg|thumb|Three eastern greylag geese (''A. a. rubrirostris'') at Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan, India]] The plumage of the greylag goose is greyish brown, with a darker head and paler breast and belly with a variable amount of black spotting. It has a pale grey forewing and rump which are noticeable when the bird is in flight or stretches its wings on the ground. It has a white line bordering its upper flanks, and its wing coverts are light coloured, contrasting with its darker flight feathers. Its plumage is patterned by the pale fringes of the feathers. Juveniles differ mostly in their lack of black speckling on the breast and belly and by their greyish legs.<ref name="Madge"/><ref name="Johnsgard 60"/> Adults have a distinctive 'concertina' pattern of folds in the feathers on their necks.
The greylag goose has a loud cackling call similar to that of the domestic goose, "aahng-ung-ung", uttered on the ground or in flight. There are various subtle variations used under different circumstances, and individual geese seem to be able to identify other known geese by their voices. The sound made by a flock of geese resembles the baying of hounds.<ref name=Witherby/> Goslings chirp or whistle lightly, and adults hiss if threatened or angered.<ref name="Madge"/>
==Distribution and habitat== This species has a Palearctic distribution. The nominate subspecies breeds in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Baltic States, northern Russia, Poland, eastern Hungary, Romania, Germany and the Netherlands. It also breeds locally in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, North Macedonia and some other European countries. The eastern subspecies extends eastwards across a broad swathe of Asia to China.<ref name=Witherby/> Historically, European birds generally migrated southwards to spend winter in southern Europe and North Africa,<ref name=Witherby/> but in recent decades many instead overwinter in or near their breeding range, even in Scandinavia.<ref name=DOFgg>{{cite web| title=Grågås | url=https://dofbasen.dk/danmarksfugle/art/01610 | publisher=Danish Ornithological Society | access-date=5 December 2023 | language=da }}</ref><ref name=Artdatabankengg>{{cite web| title=Grågås | url=https://artfakta.se/artinformation/taxa/anser-anser-102928/detaljer | publisher=Artdatabanken (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) | access-date=5 December 2023 | language=sv }}</ref> Asian birds migrate to Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, northern India, Bangladesh and eastward to China.<ref name=Witherby/> Greylags also occur as very rare winter migrants to South Korea and Japan.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yan |first1=Ming |last2=Yi |first2=Kunpeng |last3=Zhang |first3=Junjian |last4=Batbayar |first4=Nyambayar |last5=Xu |first5=Zhenggang |last6=Liu |first6=Guanhua |last7=Hu |first7=Binhua |last8=Zheng |first8=Bofu |last9=Antonov |first9=Aleksei |last10=Goroshko |first10=Oleg |last11=Zhao |first11=Gerelt |last12=Davaasuren |first12=Batmunkh |last13=Erdenechimeg |first13=Tuvshinjargal |last14=Nergui |first14=Jugdernamjil |last15=Damba |first15=Iderbat |date=2020 |title=Flyway connectivity and population status of the Greylag Goose Anser anser in East Asia |url=https://wildfowl.wwt.org.uk/index.php/wildfowl/article/view/2741 |journal=Wildfowl |language=en |pages=157–180 |issn=2052-6458}}</ref>
In North America, there are both feral domestic geese, which are similar to greylags, and occasional vagrant greylags.<ref name="Johnsgard 60" /> Greylag geese seen in the wild in New Zealand probably originated from the escape of farmyard geese,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Southey |first1=I. |editor-last=Miskelly |editor-first=C.M. |url=http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/greylag-goose |title=Greylag goose |year=2013 |work=New Zealand Birds Online |access-date=24 October 2015}}</ref> and a similar situation has occurred in Australia, where feral birds are now established in the east and southeast of the country.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gaiaguide.info/Group.html?groupId=9AFnQkW5 |title=Greylag goose |publisher=Gaia Guide |access-date=24 October 2015}}</ref>
In their breeding quarters, they are found on moors with scattered lochs, in marshes, fens and peat-bogs, besides lakes and on little islands some way out to sea. They like dense ground cover of reeds, rushes, heather, bushes and willow thickets. In their winter quarters, they frequent salt marshes, estuaries, freshwater marshes, steppes, flooded fields, bogs and pasture near lakes, rivers and streams. They also visit agricultural land where they feed on winter cereals, rice, beans or other crops, moving at night to shoals and sand-banks on the coast, mud-banks in estuaries or secluded lakes.<ref name=Witherby/> Large numbers of immature birds congregate each year to moult on the Rone Islands near Gotland in the Baltic Sea.<ref name=Alerstam/>
Since the 1950s, increases in winter temperatures have resulted in greylag geese breeding in northern and central Europe, reducing their winter migration distances or even becoming resident.<ref name=DOFgg/><ref name=Artdatabankengg/><ref name=Podhrazsky2017>{{cite journal |author1=Podhrázský, M. |author2=Musil, P. | author3=Musilová, Z. |author4=Zouhar, J. | author5= Adam, M.| author6=Závora, J. |author7=Hudec, K. | year=2017| title=Central European Greylag Geese ''Anser anser'' show a shortening of migration distance and earlier spring arrival over 60 years| journal=Ibis| volume=159| pages=352–365| doi=10.1111/ibi.12440 | issue=2}}</ref> Wintering grounds closer to home can therefore be exploited, meaning that the geese can return to set up breeding territories earlier the following spring.<ref name=Podhrazsky2017/>
In Great Britain, their numbers had declined as a breeding bird, retreating north to breed wild only in the Outer Hebrides and the northern mainland of Scotland. However, during the 20th century, feral populations have been established elsewhere, and they have now re-colonised much of England. These populations are increasingly coming into contact and merging.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishbirds.co.uk/articles/the-merging-of-populations-of-greylag-geese-breeding-in-britain |title=The merging of populations of Greylag Geese breeding in Britain |first1=Carl |last1=Mitchell |first2=Richard |last2=Hearn |first3=David |last3=Stroud |date=4 September 2012 |work=British Birds |access-date=17 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223065602/http://www.britishbirds.co.uk/articles/the-merging-of-populations-of-greylag-geese-breeding-in-Britain |archive-date=23 February 2014 }}</ref>
The greylag goose has become a pest species in several areas where its population has increased sharply. In Norway, the number of greylag geese is estimated to have increased three- to five-fold between 1995 and 2015. As a consequence, problems for farmers caused by goose grazing on farmland have increased considerably. This problem is also evident for the pink-footed goose. In the Orkney islands the population has increased dramatically: there were 300 breeding pairs, increasing to 10,000 in 2009, and 64,000 in 2019. Due to extensive damage caused to crops, the hunting season for the greylag goose in the Orkney islands is now most of the year.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fighting a goose invasion with guns, knives and forks|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-50816678|work=BBC News|date=23 December 2019 |access-date=24 December 2019}}</ref>
==Behaviour==
Greylag geese are largely herbivorous and feed chiefly on grasses. Short, actively growing grass is more nutritious and greylag geese are often found grazing in pastures with sheep or cows.<ref name=Scheiber/> Because of its low nutrient status, they need to feed for much of their time; the herbage passes rapidly through the gut and is voided frequently.<ref name=ARKive/> The tubers of sea clubrush (''Bolboschoenus maritimus'') are also taken as well as fruits and water plants such as duckweed (''Lemna'') and floating sweetgrass (''Glyceria fluitans''). In wintertime they eat grass and leaves but also glean grain on cereal stubbles and sometimes feed on growing crops, especially during the night. They have been known to feed on oats, wheat, barley, buckwheat, lentils, peas and root crops. Acorns are sometimes consumed, and on the coast, seagrass (''Zostera'' sp.) may be eaten.<ref name=Witherby/> In the 1920s in Britain, the pink-footed goose "discovered" that potatoes were edible and started feeding on waste potatoes. The greylag followed suit in the 1940s and now regularly searches for tubers on ploughed fields.<ref name=Alerstam/> They also consume small fish, amphibians, crustaceans, molluscs and insects.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2 May 2019|url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Anser_anser/|title=Anser anser|work=Animal Diversity Web}}</ref>
<gallery mode = packed heights = 160px> Greylag geese (Anser anser) on nest Denmark.jpg|pair on nest, Denmark Nyári lúd fészekalja.jpg|eggs in the nest, Hungary Anser anser EM1B9595 (33952161753).jpg|female with goslings, Sweden Greylag goose (Anser anser) in flight Marken.jpg|adult in flight, Netherlands </gallery>
Greylag geese tend to pair bond in long-term monogamous relationships.<ref name="Bagemihl">{{cite book |last1=Bagemihl |first1=Bruce |title=Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity |date=1999 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=0-312-19239-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/biologicalexuber00bage/page/479 479-481] |url=https://archive.org/details/biologicalexuber00bage/page/479 }}</ref> Most such pairs are probably life-long partnerships, though 5 to 8% of the pairs separate and re-mate with other geese.<ref name="Bagemihl"/> Birds in heterosexual pairs may engage in promiscuous behavior, despite the opposition of their mates.<ref name="Bagemihl"/>
Homosexual pairs are common (14 to 20% of the pairs may be ganders, depending on flock), and share the characteristics of heterosexual pairs with the exceptions that the bonds appear to be closer, based on the intensity of their displays.<ref name="Bagemihl"/> Same-sex pairs also engage in courtship and sexual relations, and often assume high-ranking positions in the flock as a result of their superior strength and courage, leading some to speculate that they may serve as guardians of the flock.<ref name="Bagemihl"/> The sexual preference of the birds is generally flexible, as more than half of widowers re-pair with a bird of the opposite sex.<ref name="Bagemihl"/>
The nest is on the ground among heather, rushes, dwarf shrubs or reeds, or on a raft of floating vegetation. It is built from pieces of reed, sprigs of heather, grasses and moss, mixed with small feathers and down. A typical clutch is four to six eggs, but fewer eggs or larger numbers are not unusual. The eggs are creamy-white at first but soon become stained, and average {{convert|85|by|58|mm|in|frac=16}}. They are mostly laid on successive days and incubation starts after the last one is laid. The female does the incubation, which lasts about twenty-eight days, while the male remains on guard somewhere near. The chicks are precocial and able to leave the nest soon after hatching. Both parents are involved in their care and they soon learn to peck at food and become fully-fledged at eight or nine weeks,<ref name=Witherby/> about the same time as their parents regain their ability to fly after moulting their main wing and tail feathers a month earlier. Immature birds undergo a similar moult, and move to traditional, safe locations before doing so because of their vulnerability while flightless.<ref name=Scheiber/>
thumb|Migrating flock thumb|Greylag goose can gather in very large flocks of thousands of individuals.
Greylag geese are gregarious birds and form flocks. This has the advantage for the birds that the vigilance of some individuals in the group allows the rest to feed without having to constantly be alert to the approach of predators. After the eggs hatch, some grouping of families occur, enabling the geese to defend their young by their joint actions, such as mobbing or attacking predators.<ref name=Scheiber/> After driving off a predator, a gander will return to its mate and give a "triumph call", a resonant honk followed by a low-pitched cackle, uttered with neck extended forward parallel with the ground. The mate and even unfledged young reciprocate in kind.<ref name=Witherby/>
Young greylags stay with their parents as a family group, migrating with them in a larger flock, and only dispersing when the adults drive them away from their newly established breeding territory the following year.<ref name=ARKive>{{cite web |url=http://www.arkive.org/greylag-goose/anser-anser/ |title=Greylag goose (''Anser anser'') |publisher=Wildscreen Arkive |access-date=20 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622052443/http://www.arkive.org/greylag-goose/anser-anser/ |archive-date=2013-06-22 }}</ref> At least in Europe, patterns of migration are well understood and follow traditional routes with known staging sites and wintering sites. The young learn these locations from their parents which normally stay together for life.<ref name=Alerstam/> Greylags leave their northern breeding areas relatively late in the autumn, for example completing their departure from Iceland by November, and start their return migration as early as January. Birds that breed in Iceland overwinter in the British Isles; those from Central Europe overwinter as far south as Spain and North Africa; others migrate down to the Balkans, Turkey and Iraq for the winter.<ref>{{cite web |title=Greylag Goose ( ''Anser anser'' ) movements |url=http://www.bto.org/ai/pdfs/53move.pdf |publisher=British Trust for Ornithology |access-date=24 October 2015}} stated to be from {{cite book |editor=Delany, S. |editor2=Veen, J. |editor3=Clark, J.A. |year=2006 |title=Urgent preliminary assessment of ornithological data relevant to the spread of Avian Influenza in Europe |publisher=Report to the European Commission. Study contract: 07010401/2005/425926/MAR/B4}}</ref>
==In human culture== Geese are important to multiple culinary traditions. The meat, liver and other organs, fat, skin and blood are used culinarily in various cuisines.<ref name=":6">{{Cite news |last=Fort |first=Matthew |date=2010-09-23 |title=The golden goose |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/sep/23/goose |access-date=2023-09-17 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
The greylag goose was once revered across Eurasia. It was linked with the goddess of healing, Gula, a forerunner of the Sumerian fertility goddess Ishtar, in the cities of the Tigris-Euphrates delta over 5,000 years ago.<ref name="Cocker" /> In Ancient Egypt, geese symbolised the sun god Ra. In Ancient Greece and Rome, they were associated with the goddess of love, Aphrodite, and goose fat was used as an aphrodisiac. Since they were sacred birds, they were kept on Rome's Capitoline Hill, from where they raised the alarm when the Gauls attacked in 390 BCE.<ref name="Cocker" />
The goose's role in fertility survives in modern British tradition in the nursery rhyme ''Goosey Goosey Gander'', which preserves its sexual overtones ("And in my lady's chamber"), while "to goose" still has a sexual meaning.<ref name=Cocker/> The tradition of pulling a wishbone derives from the tradition of eating a roast goose at Michaelmas, where the goose bone was once believed to have the powers of an oracle. For that festival, in Thomas Bewick's time, geese were driven in thousand-strong flocks on foot from farms all over the East of England to London's Cheapside market, covering some {{convert|8|or|9|mi|km|0|order=flip}} per day. Some farmers painted the geese's feet with tar and sand to protect them from road wear as they walked.<ref name=Cocker/>
Greylag geese were domesticated by at least 1360 BCE, when images of domesticated birds resembling the eastern subspecies ''Anser anser rubirostris'' (which like many modern farmyard geese, but unlike western greylags, have a pink beak) were painted in Ancient Egypt. Goose feathers were used as quill pens, the best being the primary feathers of the left-wing, whose "curvature bent away from the eyes of right-handed writers".<ref name=Rowland/> The feathers also served to fletch arrows.<ref name=Cocker/> In ethology, the greylag goose was the subject of Konrad Lorenz's pioneering studies of imprinting behaviour.<ref name=Allen/> {{clear|left}}
==Gallery== <gallery> Greylag goose (anser anser).JPG|Variant with white "front" Anser anser EM1B5927 (36071281286).jpg|In flight Birds of Sweden 2016 44.jpg|Swimming Grågås (Anser-anser)-Ystad-2015.jpg|Flock taking off over water Anser anser MWNH 0955.JPG|Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden Alerte grauwe ganzen-4961601.webm|On Texel, Netherlands Grågås (Anser anser) Ystad 2016.ogv|In Ystad Greylag-goose-63088.jpg|Adult, Poland Greylag Goose Grauwe Gans.JPG|An interspecific hybrid between a wild greylag goose and a domesticated swan goose, as evidenced by its thick neck and bulky head, both of which display vestigial patterning similar to that of the swan goose Amun stela Berlin.jpg|Ancient Egyptian stele showing Amun-Ra as goose, man, and ram. 25th dynasty, {{Circa|700 BCE}}. Henri-Paul Motte Les oies sacrées sauvent le Capitole.jpg|Juno's sacred geese warn the Romans while the Gauls approach the Capitoline Hill in 390 BCE. Lithograph after Henri-Paul Motte (1883) </gallery>
==Footnotes== {{noteslist}}
==References== {{Reflist|30em|refs= <ref name=Alerstam>{{cite book|last1=Alerstam |first1=Thomas |last2=Christie |first2=David A. |title=Bird Migration |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_oE29KijRlAC&pg=PA90 |year=1993 |location=Cambridge England, New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-44822-2 |pages=90–96}}</ref> <ref name=Allen>{{cite book|last1=Allen |first1=Colin |last2=Bekoff |first2=Marc |title=Species of Mind: The Philosophy and Biology of Cognitive Ethology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H97oavF8NO4C |year=1999 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-51108-7 |pages=30–31}}</ref> <ref name=Carboneras>{{cite journal | last1=Carnoneras | first1=C. | year=2020 | title=Graylag Goose (''Anser anser''), version 1.0 | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | journal=Birds of the World | location=Ithaca, NY, USA | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | doi=10.2173/bow.gragoo.01 }}</ref> <ref name=Cocker>{{cite book |last1=Cocker |first1=Mark |last2=Mabey |first2=Richard |author2-link=Richard Mabey |title=Birds Britannica |title-link=Birds Britannica |date=2005 |location=London |publisher=Chatto & Windus |isbn=0-7011-6907-9 |pages=74–76}}</ref> <ref name="CRC">{{cite book|title=CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses|editor-first=John B. Jr.|editor-last=Dunning |location=Boca Raton, Florida|publisher=CRC Press|year=1992|isbn=978-0-8493-4258-5}}</ref> <ref name="Johnsgard 60">{{cite journal|last=Johnsgard|first=Paul A.|author-link=Paul Johnsgard|title=Ducks, Geese, and Swans of the World|journal=Ducks, Geese, and Swans of the World by Paul A. Johnsgard |publisher=University of Nebraska Press|year=2010|orig-date=1978|edition=revised online|location=Lincoln, Nebraska|url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/biosciducksgeeseswans/5/}}</ref> <ref name="Madge">{{cite book|last1=Madge|first1=Steve|last2=Burn|first2=Hilary|title=Waterfowl: an Identification Guide to the Ducks, Geese, and Swans of the World|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|year=1988|location=Boston|isbn=0-395-46727-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/waterfowl00stev/page/140 140–141]|url=https://archive.org/details/waterfowl00stev/page/140}}</ref> <ref name=Ogilvie>{{cite book|last1=Ogilvie|first1=Malcolm A.|last2=Young|first2=Steve |title=Wildfowl of the World |location=London|publisher=New Holland Publishers |year=2004|isbn=978-1-84330-328-2}}</ref> <ref name=Rowland>{{cite book |last1=Rowland |first1=Beryl |title=Birds with Human Souls: a Guide to Bird Symbolism |date=1978 |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/birdswithhumanso0000rowl/page/69 69] |isbn=0-87049-215-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/birdswithhumanso0000rowl/page/69 }}</ref> <ref name=Scheiber>{{cite book|last1=Scheiber |first1=Isabella B.R. |last2=Weiß |first2=Brigitte M.|last3=Hemetsberger |first3=Josef |last4=Kotrschal |first4=Kurt |title=The Social Life of Greylag Geese|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fTgoAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 |year=2013 |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-82270-1 |pages=9–10}}</ref> <ref name=Witherby>{{cite book |title=Handbook of British Birds, Volume 3: Hawks to Ducks |editor-last=Witherby |editor-first=H. F. |year=1943|location=London |publisher=H. F. and G. Witherby Ltd. |pages=149–186 }}</ref> }}
==Further reading== *{{cite book|last1=Lorenz|first1=Konrad Z.|author-link=Konrad Lorenz|last2=Martys|first2=Michael|last3=Tipler|first3=Angelika|translator=Robert D. Martin|title=Here Am I—Where Are You? The Behavior of the Greylag Goose|publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich|location=Orlando, Florida|year=1991|isbn=0-15-140056-3|url=https://archive.org/details/hereamiwherearey00lore}} *{{cite journal|journal=Folia Biol.|location=Krakow|year=2007|volume=55|pages=35–40|url=http://www.isez.pan.krakow.pl/journals/folia/pdf/55%281-2%29/05.pdf|issue=1–2|title=Description of the ''Anser anser'' Goose Karyotype|first1=Ewa|last1=Wójcik|first2=Elżbieta|last2=Smalec|doi=10.3409/173491607780006407|pmid=17687932}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20170712075411/http://aulaenred.ibercaja.es/wp-content/uploads/63_GreylagGooseAanser.pdf Ageing and sexing (PDF) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze] *[http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/g/greylaggoose/index.asp Greylag Goose at RSPB A to Z of UK Birds] *{{InternetBirdCollection|greylag-goose-anser-anser|Greylag Goose}} *[http://www.nature-pictures.org/foto/58/ Greylag Goose pictures] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905022255/http://www.nature-pictures.org/foto/58/ |date=2019-09-05 }} Wildlife Greylag Goose photos- adult with nestlings and voice at nature-pictures.org *{{VIREO|graylag+goose|Graylag Goose}} *{{IUCN_Map|22679889/166194209|Anser anser}} *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0qYRz2oDmI Greylag Goose Educational video from Avi Birds]
{{Taxonbar |from=Q25882}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Anser (bird) Category:Geese Category:Birds of Eurasia Category:Birds described in 1758 Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Animal taxa named by Carl Linnaeus