Species: Cygnus olor
Mute Swan
Species
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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Aves
Order
Anseriformes
Family
Anatidae
Genus
Cygnus
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Cygne tuberculé
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Waterfowl
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Anseriformes - Anatidae - Cygnus - .
Ecology and Life History
Migration
true - true - false - In North America, makes short local migrations or does not migrate.
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
true
Food Comments
Eats mainly aquatic plants pulled up from bottom in shallow water.
Reproduction Comments
Clutch size averages 4-6. Incubation lasts 34-38 days, mainly or entirely by female. Young are tended by both parents, independent at about 4 months.
Ecology Comments
Introduced swans in southern New England occupy and defend territories against conspecific individuals year-round, except when mid-winter ice prevents occupancy. Some swans defend their territories also against waterfowl of other species, though interference with the nesting of other species has not been documented. As of the early 1990s, no impact of swans on aquatic vegetation was evident (Conover and Kania 1994).
Length
152
Weight
11800
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-11-20
Global Status Last Changed
1996-11-20
Other Status
LC - Least concern
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
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Global Range
H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - Native to Eurasia. Introduced and established in North America, with breeding recorded locally from southern Saskatchewan, Great Lakes region (Michigan), southern New York and Connecticut south to central Missouri and along the Atlantic coast to Virginia; other populations have been recorded in the vicinity of Vancouver Island and in Oregon and Indiana; also in other areas of world. In the U.S., the highest winter densities occur in Michigan and along the eastern seaboard from Delaware to Massachusetts (Root 1988).
Global Range Code
H
Global Range Description
>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)