Red-breasted goose

Facts

IUCN ENDANGERED (EN)

Facts about this animal

With a body-weight of only 1.4 to 1.6 kg in males, and 1.1 to 1.2 kg in females, the red-breasted goose is the smallest of all Branta species.

Breeding is semi-colonial. 3 to 7 cream-coloured eggs are laid, which are incubated exclusively by the female for 23-25 days.

The red-breasted goose nests in tundra, where breeding success may depend on nesting Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) and Snowy Owl (Nyctea scandiaca) providing protection from predators such as Arctic fox (Alopex lagopus). The species has a small wintering range with 80-90 % of the population concentrated in just five roost sites and the remainder occurring in a few other areas. Wintering geese feed on winter wheat, barley, maize, pasture grasses and, in Greece, natural grassland.

Did you know?
that climate change and associated habitat shifts are expected to impact negatively on this species dependent on tundra habitat for breeding? Modelling indicates that two-thirds of the habitat for this species could be lost by 2070.

Factsheet
Class	AVES
Order	ANSERIFORMES
Suborder	ANSERES
Family	ANATIDAE
Name (Scientific)	Branta ruficollis
Name (English)	Red-breasted goose
Name (French)	Oie à cou roux
Name (German)	Rothalsgans
Name (Spanish)	Barnacla cuelliroja
Local names	Estonian: Punakael-lagle Greek: Kokkinóchina Romanian: Gasca cu gat rosu Turkish: Sibirya Kaz?
CITES Status	Appendix II
CMS Status	Appendix I Appendix II (as Anatidae spp.) Included in AEWA

Photo Copyright by
Adrian Pingstone

Distribution

Distribution
Range	Breeding in Russia, wintering along the Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Eastern Mediterranean, and north end of the Arabian Gulf: Azerbaijan. Bulgaria, Greece, Kazakhstan, Romania, Iraq, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine. Vagrants and escaped birds in many countries of the Western Palearctic.
Habitat	Tundra, other grasslands and wetlands.
Wild population	Average estimate from 2003-2005 counts: 38.500.
Zoo population	473 reported to ISIS (2006)

In the Zoo

How this animal should be transported

For air transport, Container Note 17 of the IATA Live Animals Regulations should be followed.

Find this animal on ZooLex

Photo Copyright by
BS Thurner Hof

Why do zoos keep this animal

This is a very colourful and attractive species, thus a good ambassador for its increasingly threatened breeding habitat, the arctic tundra. In addition, the species is vulnerable due to various threats, and maintaining a reserve population at zoos makes sense.

How this animal should be kept

Unless a lot of space is available allowing the birds to disperse, pairs should be separated during the breeding season in an enclosure or aviary with a land surface of 100 to 200 m² and a water surface of 10 to 50 m². For the rest of the year, the geese may be kept in larger social groups. If kept in multispecies waterfowl exhibits, the species should be selected in a way to avoid hybridisation. Note that WAZA has adopted the policy of outphasing pinioning, and that several countries prohibit the use of surgical methods for flight restraint.

Brent geese need access to grass for food. Supplementary feeding, in the form of pellets can be a substitute in the winter months, when grass levels are low. All food stored must be kept in a dry condition. If it becomes damp it should not be used. It is important that the food fed is fresh. If food is fed into water, only as much as will be readily eaten should be given. All feed containers in pens should be cleaned regularly. Grit should be available on a regular basis, and additional limestone grit should be fed on available annually, just prior to the egg-laying season.