Greylag Goose

The Greylag Goose (also spelled Graylag in the United States), Anser anser, is a bird with a wide range in the Old World. It is the type species of the genus Anser.

It was in pre-Linnean times known as the Wild Goose ("Anser ferus"). This species is the ancestor of domesticated geese in Europe and North America. Flocks of feral birds derived from domesticated birds are widespread.

The Greylag Goose is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

Within science, the greylag goose is most notable as being the bird with which the ethologist Konrad Lorenz first did his major studying into the behavioural phenomenon of imprinting.

Read more about Greylag Goose:  Description, Distribution and Habitat, Behaviour, Gallery

Famous quotes containing the word goose:

    “Lawk a mercy on me,
    This is none of I!

    “But if this be I,
    As I do hope it be,
    I have a little dog at home
    And he knows me;
    —Mother Goose (fl. 17th–18th century. There was an old woman, as I’ve heard tell (l. 23–28)