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Swan

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Birds

                  iSwans
   Mute Swans (Cygnus olor)
   Mute Swans (Cygnus olor)
         Scientific classification

   Kingdom:   Animalia
   Phylum:    Chordata
   Class:     Aves
   Order:     Anseriformes
   Family:    Anatidae
   Subfamily: Anserinae

                                   Genera

   Cygnus Bechstein 1803
   Coscoroba Reichenbach 1853

   Swans are large water birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes
   geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in
   the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes,
   they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae.

   Swans usually mate for life, though "divorce" does sometimes occur,
   particularly following nesting failure. The number of eggs in each
   clutch is between 3–8.

   The word is derived from Old English swan, akin to German schwan, in
   turn derived from Indo-European root *swen (to sound, to sing), whence
   Latin derives sonus (sound). (Webster's New World Dictionary) Young
   swans are known as cygnets, from the Latin word for swan, cygnus. An
   adult male is a "cob", an adult female is a "pen".

Coloration

   The Northern Hemisphere species of swan have pure white plumage, but
   the Southern Hemisphere species are white-and-black. The Australian
   Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) is completely black except for the white
   flight feathers on its wings, and the South American Black-necked Swan
   has a black neck. The Coscoroba Swan, also from southern South America,
   has black tips to the primary feathers.

   The legs of swans are dark blackish grey, except for the two South
   American species, which have pink legs. Bill colour varies; the four
   subarctic species have black bills with varying amounts of yellow, and
   all the others are patterned red and black. The Mute Swan and
   Black-necked Swan have a lump at the base of the bill on the upper
   mandible.

Systematics and evolution

   All evidence suggests that the genus Cygnus evolved in Europe or
   western Eurasia during the Miocene, spreading all over the Northern
   Hemisphere until the Pliocene. When the southern species branched off
   is not known. The Mute Swan apparently is closest to the Southern
   Hemisphere Cygnus; its habits of carrying the neck curved (not
   straight) and the wings fluffed (not flush) as well as its bill colour
   and knob indicate that its closest living relative is actually the
   Black Swan. Given the biogeography and appearance of the subgenus Olor
   it seems likely that these are of a more recent origin, as evidenced by
   their modern ranges (which were mostly uninhabitable during the last
   ice age) and great similarity between the taxa. Also, the relationships
   of the Coscoroba Swan remain rather obscure; it apparently represents
   the most early divergence as it is in some aspects more similar to
   geese and shelducks.

   Genus Coscoroba
     * Coscoroba Swan, Coscoroba coscoroba, South America

   Genus Cygnus
     * Subgenus Cygnus
          + Mute Swan, Cygnus olor, is a common temperate Eurasian
            species, often semi-domesticated; descendants of domestic
            flocks are naturalized in the United States and elsewhere.

   Cygnus atratus and cygnet.
   Enlarge
   Cygnus atratus and cygnet.
     * Subgenus Chenopis
          + Black Swan, Cygnus atratus of Australia, and introduced in New
            Zealand.
               o New Zealand Swan, Cygnus (atratus) sumnerensis, an
                 extinct subspecies of the Black Swan from New Zealand and
                 the Chatham Islands.
     * Subgenus Sthenelides
          + Black-necked Swan, Cygnus melancoryphus of South America.
     * Subgenus Olor
          + Whooper Swan, Cygnus cygnus breeds in Iceland and subarctic
            Europe and Asia, migrating to temperate Europe and Asia in
            winter.
          + Trumpeter Swan, Cygnus buccinator is a North American species
            very similar to the Whooper Swan (and sometimes treated as a
            subspecies of it), which was hunted almost to extinction but
            has since recovered
          + Whistling Swan, Cygnus columbianus is a small swan which
            breeds on the North American tundra, further north than other
            swans. It winters in the USA.
               o Bewick's Swan, Cygnus (columbianus) bewickii is the
                 Eurasian form which migrates from Arctic Russia to
                 western Europe and eastern Asia (China, Japan) in winter.
                 It is often considered a subspecies of C. columbianus,
                 creating the species Tundra Swan.

   The fossil record of the genus Cygnus is quite impressive, although
   allocation to the subgenera is often tentative; as indicated above, at
   least the early forms probably belong to the C. olor - Southern
   Hemisphere lineage, whereas the Pleistocene taxa from North America
   would be placed in Olor. A number of prehistoric species have been
   described, mostly from the Northern Hemisphere. Among them were the
   giant Siculo-Maltese C. falconeri and C. equitum which were taller
   (though not heavier) than the contemporary local dwarf elephants (
   Elephas falconeri).

   Fossil Swans
     * Cygnus atavus (Middle Miocene of Germany)
     * Cygnus csakvarensis (Late Miocene of Hungary) - formerly Cygnanser
     * Cygnus mariae (Early Pliocene of Wickieup, USA)
     * Cygnus verae (Early Pliocene of Sofia, Bulgaria)
     * Cygnus liskunae (Middle Pliocene of W Mongolia)
     * Cygnus hibbardi (?Early Pleistocene of Idaho, USA)
     * Cygnus sp. (Early Pleistocene of Dursunlu, Turkey)
     * Cygnus equitum (Middle Pleistocene of Malta and Sicily,
       Mediterranean)
     * Giant Swan, Cygnus falconeri (Middle Pleistocene of Malta and
       Sicily, Mediterranean)
     * Cygnus paloregonus (Middle Pleistocene of WC USA) - includes
       "Anser" condoni and C. matthewi
     * Cygnus sp. (Pleistocene of Australia)
     * Cygnus lacustris (Late Pleistocene of Lake Eyre region, Australia)
       - formerly Archaeocygnus

   The supposed fossil swans "Cygnus" bilinicus and "Cygnus" herrenthalsi
   were, respectively, a stork and some large bird of unknown affinity
   (due to the bad state of preservation of the referred material).

Role in culture

   Many of the cultural aspects refer to the Mute Swan of Europe. Perhaps
   the best known story about a swan is The Ugly Duckling fable. The story
   centers around a duckling who is mistreated until it becomes evident he
   is a swan and is accepted into the habitat. He was mistreated because
   real ducklings are, according to many, more attractive than a cygnet,
   yet cygnets become swans, which are very attractive creatures. Swans
   are often a symbol of love or fidelity, because of their long-lasting
   monogamist relationships. See the famous swan-related operas Lohengrin
   and Parsifal.

   Swans feature strongly in mythology. In Greek mythology, the story of
   Leda and the Swan recounts that Helen of Troy was conceived in a union
   of Zeus disguised as a swan and Leda, Queen of Sparta. The Irish legend
   of the Children of Lir is about a mother transforming her children into
   swans for 900 years. Myths also exist about swans themselves. It was
   once believed that upon death, the otherwise silent Mute swan would
   sing beautifully - hence the phrase swan song.

   Swans are revered in many religions and cultures, especially Hinduism.
   The Sanskrit word for swan is hamsa or hansa, and it is the vehicle of
   many deities like the goddess Saraswati. It is mentioned several times
   in the Vedic literature, and persons who have attained great spiritual
   capabilities are sometimes called Paramahamsa ('Great Swan') on account
   of their spiritual grace and ability to travel between various
   spiritual worlds. In the Vedas, swans are said to reside in the summers
   in the Manasarovar lake and migrate to Indian lakes for the winter, eat
   pearls, and separate milk from water in a mixture of both. Hindu
   iconography typically shows the Mute Swan. It is wrongly supposed by
   many historians that the word hamsa only means a goose, since today
   swans are no longer found in India, not even in most zoos. However,
   ornithological checklists clearly classify several species of swans as
   vagrant birds in India.

   One Chinese idiom about swans is how "a toad wants to eat swan flesh!".
   This idiom is used derisively on men who desire women who are beyond
   their station in terms of wealth, social class or beauty.

   Today swans are used symbolically or as brands. The Sydney Swans AFL
   Team uses a swan as its club emblem/mascot, and Swansea City A.F.C.'s
   mascot is a swan called Cyril the Swan. The Bonny Swans is a song on
   Loreena McKennitt's 1994 album, The Mask and Mirror.

Photo gallery

   Trumpeter Swan

   Flock of Tundra Swans migrating near Alma, WI, USA

   Black Swans

   Mute Swan

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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