# Swans can break your arm?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 4, 2001, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swans-can-break-your-arm/79727 "2001-09-04T19:43:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![willrolt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a88e57/32.png) [@willrolt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willrolt)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swans-can-break-your-arm/79727/1 "2001-09-04T19:43:31Z")
Along with the usual cautionary tales and stern warnings on the dangers of growing up, I seem to remember a number of adults (parents, teachers, friends’ parents) telling me, with some conviction, that a swan can break someone’s arm. Though I have no doubt that swans are strong birds, how common is this occurrance? Does anyone know someone who has suffered such an injury? Do swans automatically go for the arms in self-defence, or is this example given as an illustration of a swan’s strength? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swans-can-break-your-arm/79727/2 "2001-09-04T19:52:21Z")
I would assume this story would arise to keep people from trying to feed a swan by holding out food in one’s hand. Then the swan is likely to just grab your whole hand and that’s bound to end in tears. If not a trip to the ER. Swans, so elegant, and so mean. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swans-can-break-your-arm/79727/3 "2001-09-04T20:33:23Z")
I’m going to assume you are speaking of Mute Swans (white) and Black Swans (black): both species were imported into the US from Europe and Australia respectively as ornamental birds for zoos, parks and estates. These are the ones that people are more likely to have contact with than the wild species (Tundra, Trumpeter, and Whooper swans), although flocks of Mutes and Blacks are becoming established in areas from escaped and unwanted birds dumped onto other bodies of water. Swans (part of the Duck family - _Anatidae_) are very strong and very territorial animals. They can do quite a bit of damage with their beaks (I am missing a toenail because of a swan - bit the damned thing right off), not to mention buffeting with their wings. Add to that their size, their speed on land, and their intimidating posturing before charging, and you have a pretty formidable animal. I do not believe they could actually break a person’s arm, but they can do some serious damage - sprains and lots of bruising. Let me check on this with some of the ornithologists. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swans-can-break-your-arm/79727/4 "2001-09-04T20:36:40Z")
Gah! _Cygninae_, not _Anatidae_ ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swans-can-break-your-arm/79727/5 "2001-09-04T20:43:12Z")
I’d heard the same thing, but specifically from being pegged with the tip of the wing - Mamma O told me the bones were quite light and hollow, so that it was very easy for a swan to give someone the cygnid equivalent of a rat’s tail, but with more power behind it so you wouldn’t end up with just a welt. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swans-can-break-your-arm/79727/6 "2001-09-04T20:44:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by screech-owl \* > \*\*Gah! _Cygninae_, not _Anatidae_ \*\* No, you were right in the first place on the family: Anatidae. Cygninae is the subfamily of swans. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swans-can-break-your-arm/79727/7 "2001-09-04T20:53:02Z")
From [this site](http://www.gsenet.org/library/23wld/intrswan.txt) > [@](#): > > \*\* > Mute swans are large, powerful, and often dangerous. The largest male on record weighed 50.7 pounds. They are one of the few species that will fight each other to death. The aggressor “rides” his prey and holds its head under water until it drowns or dies of exhaustion. Swans kill dogs in the same way, and on at least two occasions, have killed people: a child in Massachusetts around 1930, and in 1982, an Indian fisherman drowned when a swan capsized his boat and beat him on the head and shoulders. One swan was observed crushing a galvanized bucket and another attacked a 19-foot motorboat. They will attack humans on jet-skis.\*\* ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swans-can-break-your-arm/79727/8 "2001-09-04T21:07:59Z")
- - - I have never read of anyone getting their arm broken from a swan. I have heard of kids getting fingers bit while attempting hand-feeding, but it never involved a trip to any doctor. If one struck you with its wing, it would probably suffer more damage than you would. - The main problem with any long-necked bird is that at close quarters they will peck at your eyes. Some types of birds such as cranes and egrets are particularly vicious about this. - MC ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swans-can-break-your-arm/79727/9 "2001-09-05T01:09:13Z")
Thank you for the clarification, Colibri. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swans-can-break-your-arm/79727/10 "2001-09-05T01:42:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Colibri \* > \*\*From [this site](http://www.gsenet.org/library/23wld/intrswan.txt) > > > [@](#): > > > > \*\* > > Mute swans are large, powerful, and often dangerous. The largest male on record weighed 50.7 pounds. They are one of the few species that will fight each other to death. The aggressor “rides” his prey and holds its head under water until it drowns or dies of exhaustion. Swans kill dogs in the same way, and on at least two occasions, have killed people: a child in Massachusetts around 1930, and in 1982, an Indian fisherman drowned when a swan capsized his boat and beat him on the head and shoulders. One swan was observed crushing a galvanized bucket and another attacked a 19-foot motorboat. They will attack humans on jet-skis.\*\* > > \*\* HOLY HANNAH! I am going to give those suckers all the room they want from now on. Ironically, it was mute swans that indirectly started me on birding as a hobby. My uncle (a former city boy) was staying at a beach house in Rhode Island, saw some birds and wondered what they were. He went out and bought Roger Tory Petersons field guide, and kindled in me a lifelong obsession with birds. ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swans-can-break-your-arm/79727/11 "2001-09-05T02:22:38Z")
“They say a swan can break a man’s arm with just a twist of its neck… but of course a lady swan can break a male swan’s heart with just… a glance.” [list]-Harry Hill ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swans-can-break-your-arm/79727/12 "2001-09-05T02:27:36Z")
Hmmm… then perhaps this was truly “self defense”. Golfer who killed Trump’s swan charged with animal cruelty. [http://www.sptimes.com/News/011101/State/Rare\_swan\_killed\_at\_T.shtml](http://www.sptimes.com/News/011101/State/Rare_swan_killed_at_T.shtml) "Wagner, golfing with club member Eli Milch, admitted killing the bird with a driver. He said he did it to defend other golfers, court records show. Milch said the swan was **six feet tall** and had attacked people in the past, court records show."