Magpie Goose

The Magpie Goose (Anseranas semipalmata) is the sole living representative species of the family Anseranatidae and this common waterbird is found in northern Australia and southern New Guinea.

Etymology

Magpie geese are unmistakable birds with their black and white plumage that is similar to the color schemes of the true magpies.

Physical Appearance

The magpie goose has a black head and neck, and as it ages, its characteristic knob on the crown enlarges and becomes more noticeable in males. The white underparts contrast dramatically with the black edges of the underwing. The beak, foot, and legs are entirely orange. The magpie goose is approximately 70–90 cm tall, has a wingspan of about 1.5 m, and weighs 2–3 kg on average. Males are slightly larger than females. Females are a little smaller than males.

Abilities

Magpie geese can travel great distances across floodplains because they are excellent flyers. Because of their long legs and flexible toes, geese-like birds are good walkers and perchers, which is unusual for waterfowl. The magpie goose was skilled at grazing on crops, uprooting water plants, and excavating tubers. Magpie geese, which can number in the thousands, feed in big, boisterous flocks. They gather to consume watery vegetation. Like hoatzins, these birds are almost exclusively vegetarians, although they also eat grass blades, seeds, bulbs, and rhizomes that they dig out of the ground with their hooked beak.

Ecology

As omnivores, magpie geese mostly consume seeds, grasses, aquatic vegetation, bulbs, tubers (particularly water lilies), and certain invertebrates. During the dry season, magpie geese form in big flocks (hundreds to thousands) and contribute to the dynamics of marsh plants by disturbing the soil while foraging and disseminating seeds. Adult magpie geese are mostly hunted by humans, though larger aquatic predators may capture them on the water. However, their eggs and young are vulnerable to birds of prey (kites, eagles), dingoes, thylacines, thylacoleonids, pythons, crocodiles, bull sharks, goannas (monitor lizards), water rats, and feral animals like pigs.

The species was formerly common in southern Australia as well, but it vanished there mostly as a result of the wetlands where the birds had previously bred being drained. Their widespread and steady presence in northern Australia has been "ensured [by] protective management" because of their significance to Aboriginal people as a seasonal food supply, as targets of recreational shooting, and as a tourist attraction.

Reproduction

Their breeding is strongly tied to wet season flooding.
These geese are colonial nesters—build platform nests in trees or reeds above water.
This species is being polygynous and sometimes polyandrous—they form complex trios where one male mates with two females and all help raise chicks.
Clutch: 5–14 eggs per female in cooperative nests.
Chicks: Precocial, strong swimmers within hours, cared for by multiple adults.

Behavior

Animal socialites, magpie geese live in flocks. When migrating between places during the rainy and dry seasons, these flocks move together. In the wetlands and bogs they live in, these geese swim and wade. They usually reside in groups of three—one male and two females—while caring for the chicks. They might take to the woods to roost. Their cry is a loud "honk."

Both Indigenous Australians and foreign settlers (Europeans and Asians) valued magpie geese as a food source and as a component of cultural customs; they were frequently killed sustainably. Magpie geese can be brave and generally accessible around people, particularly in places where there is no hunting pressure. In captivity, these geese become domesticated, but they can also be noisy and occasionally defensive.

Threats and Conservation

Threats

Habitat loss from wetland drainage, agriculture, and altered flood regimes.
Illegal or excessive hunting in some areas.
Invasive species affecting wetland vegetation.

Conservation Status

IUCN Red List: Least Concern (LC)

Conservation Efforts

Protected under various state and federal conservation laws.
Anti-poaching enforcement.
Rescue and rehabilitation centers.
Awareness campaigns against illegal pet trade.

Distribution and Habitat

The magpie goose is seen in floodplains and wet grasslands. Some individuals, mostly younger birds, may be seen at quite long distances inland. The magpie goose is widespread throughout coastal northern and eastern Australia. It can be seen from Fitzroy River, Western Australia, through northern Australia to Rockhampton, Queensland, and has been extending its range into coastal New South Wales to the Clarence River and further south.

Movement Pattern: Nomadic
Individual Type: Solo
Congregatory: Congregatory (and dispersive)
Population Trend: Stable
Population: ???
Locomotion: Airborne
Habitat: Taiga; Montane Grasslands and Shrublands; Temperate Coniferous Forests; Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests; Temperate Deciduous Forests; Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands; Subtropical Coniferous Forests; Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests; Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests; Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands; Salt Flats; Stone Forest; Tropical Coniferous Forests; Tropical Moist Broadleaf Forests; Tropical Dry Broadleaf Forests; Tropical Grasslands; Tropical Savannas and Shrublands; Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub; Mushroom Forests; Mushroom Fields; Deserts and Xeric Shrublands; Badlands; Flooded Grasslands and Savannas; Swamp; Bayous/Billabongs; Riparian; Wetland; Mangrove Forest; Air-breathing Coral Reefs; Graveyard Vale; Mountain.
Earth:
- Extant (Resident): Australia; Indonesia; Papua New Guinea
Reinachos/Ityosel:
- Extant and Introduced (Breeding): ???
Thatrollwa: none
Sawintir: none
Agarathos: none

Tamed

Because the survivor is always within 17 radii of the hatching egg, magpie geese that hatch from eggs are promptly domesticated. You can give grass, seeds, bulbs, and rhizomes to a magpie goose if it hasn't already been domesticated.

Lore

none

Gallery

Foreign Languages

The Kunwinjku of western Arnhem Land know this bird as manimunak. It became an important food item with the formation of wetlands about 1500, and is depicted in rock art from this period. Mimi figures are often shown holding goose-feather fans. In Yolŋu Matha the bird is known as gurrumaṯtji, or around Ramingining as gumang.

Indigenous Australian languages

Yolŋu Matha: Gurrumaṯtji
Kunwinjku: Manimunak
Wadawurrung: Ngangok
Ramingining: Gumang
Arrernte: Manimutyka (Aboriginal Arabic: منيموچکه)

Non-Indigenous Australian languages

Bengali: তািঈড়া-যাজ (tā'uṛā-rājahām̐sa)
Catalan: Oca garsera
čeština: Husovec strakatý, Husovecstračí
Chuvash: ҫурма туналлă хур
Dansk: Skadegås
Deutsch: Spaltfußgans
English: Magpie-Goose, Black-and-white goose, Magpie Goose, Pied Goose, Semipalmated Goose
Esperanto: Anseranasedoj
Español (Spain): Ganso urraca, Ganso Overo, Ganso pintado, Ganso urraca, Oca semipalmada
Español (Mexico): Ganso Australiano
Suomi: Puuhanhi
Français: Canaroie semipalmée
Frysk: Spaltpoatguozzen
Magyar: Ujjas lúd, hasadtujjú lúd
Iloko: Ganso dominko
Indonesian: Angsa murai, Boha Wasur
Nihongo: カササギガン (kasasagigan)
Kara-Kalpak: ярым табанлы ғаз
Kabardian: къазпщэфӀыцӀэ
Kyrghyz: чала жаргактаман
Dutch: Ekstergans
Navajo: Naalʼeełítsoh yił aheełtʼéhii łizhin dóó łigaaígíí
Lithuanian: Ančiažąsė, Skeltapėdė žaćsis, Skeltapėdė žąsis
Lietuvių: Skeltapėdės žąsys
Maori: Makapai rakiraki
Norsk: Skjæregås
Polski: Bezpłetwiec
Portuguese: Ganso da Oceania
Russian: Полулапчатый гусь (Polylapchtyj gus')
Slovak: Husiarka strakatá
Serbo-Croatian: Svrakasta guska
Svenska: Skatgås
Tagalog: Gansang dominiko
Tatar: ярымтәпиле каз
Turkish: Saksağankazı
Ukrainian: Урако (urako)
Chinese: 鹊雁
Chinese (Traditional): 鵲鵝

Trivia

This quote was actually based on from one of the lyrics from Masked Wolf's Astronaut in the Ocean.