- CHARACTERISTICS
- It is the only swan that is almost completely black. The inner flight feathers are strangely twisted and when it is threatened, it lifts up its wings and exposes its white primary flight feathers.
It is strictly monogamous.
- DIET
- Exclusively vegetarian, aquatic plants
- REPRODUCTION
- It builds its nest on small islands or islet, upon aquatic vegetation. The nest is a grass platform that may measure two metres in diameter by one metre in height.
It lays between four to seven pale green eggs, and could have up to 10 eggs.
Incubation takes between 35 a 45 days.
- CURIOSITIES
- It is quite sociable. It breeds in colonies made up of anything from a few to up to thousands of pairs. After the breeding season they reunite in large groups. In New Zealand, on the Ellesmere lake, concentrations of 70,000 individuals have been estimated.
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- NAME
- Black Swan
- HABITAT
- Endemic of Australia
- SCIENTIFIC NAME
- Cygnus atratus
- SPICE
- Poultry
- DIET
- Herbivore
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