# Why is this swan mauling this tiny gosling? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 1, 2013, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827 "2013-06-01T01:04:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/1 "2013-06-01T01:04:31Z")
[Why is this swan going after this little gosling?](http://www.shortlist.com/cool-stuff/photography/swan-in-60-seconds) Seems like odd behavior. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/2 "2013-06-01T01:06:50Z")
Swans are not nice birds. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/3 "2013-06-01T01:32:25Z")
> [@astro](#): > > [Why is this swan going after this little gosling?](http://www.shortlist.com/cool-stuff/photography/swan-in-60-seconds) Seems like odd behavior. what leads you to think this is “odd” behavior? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/4 "2013-06-01T01:50:07Z")
Swans routinely harass other birds, and have attacked humans as well (I vaguely recall one fatal incident). ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/5 "2013-06-01T02:05:54Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Swans routinely harass other birds, and have attacked humans as well (I vaguely recall one fatal incident). My grandmother’s skilled nursing facility/rehab center had a couple of swans outside. One week, we noticed they hadn’t had their nesting box cleaned out on schedule. [Turns out their keeper was killed by a different pair of swans nearby.](http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/04/15/officials-villa-park-man-drowns-in-pond-near-des-plaines/) :eek: And swans and geese are natural enemies, in the animal sense. They compete for food and territory, although their territories overlap in ways not obvious to the casual human observation. Adults hold an uneasy truce sharing the same pond, but babies are fair game if they wander too close. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/6 "2013-06-01T02:13:12Z")
Holy shit. I knew swans were assholes, but, wow. ETA: response to above post. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/7 "2013-06-01T02:40:10Z")
But they’re so _graceful!_… ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/8 "2013-06-01T02:44:22Z")
Well…so is a guillotine. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/9 "2013-06-01T02:51:19Z")
Agreed. Swans are murderous dicks! ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/10 "2013-06-01T02:54:35Z")
Geese are a common nuisance to people in my area that have ponds. They tend to take over a pond and make a huge mess. One of the ways people deal with it is to buy a few swans for the pond. One pair will keep any number of geese away. Swans are jerks and other birds know it so stay the hell away from them. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/11 "2013-06-01T05:02:14Z")
Swans are not the only large birds that are dangerous to the young of other species. Geese will routinely attack and kill ducklings in the same pond. My guess would be that it is an adaptive trait to secure food by limiting the populations of competing species. (Possibly it is a more narrow effort to keep the young of other species from competing with the young of the attacking species.) I do not know whether this is true of all aquatic fowl, but it is most easily detected when the larger birds attack the young of smaller, (even slightly smaller), birds. I have not seen that many swans on ponds with ducks, but I would not be at all surprised if swans treated ducks the way that geese treat ducks and the way that swans treat geese. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2013, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/12 "2013-06-01T05:10:46Z")
Swans will eat pretty much any small animal they can catch. This isn’t unusual behavior at all. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/13 "2013-06-01T14:02:33Z")
birds are the jerks of the animal kingdom. Geese and swans take it to the max. or, as I put it while roasting a goose, “geese _deserve_ to be eaten.” ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/14 "2013-06-01T14:40:01Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > Geese are a common nuisance to people in my area that have ponds. They tend to take over a pond and make a huge mess. One of the ways people deal with it is to buy a few swans for the pond. One pair will keep any number of geese away. Swans are jerks and other birds know it so stay the hell away from them. Exactly. Got a problem with goose poop in and around your pond? Get a couple swans, problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/15 "2013-06-01T14:57:12Z")
I was trapped on the roof of a gazebo by a nesting swan. It was frightful. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/16 "2013-06-01T15:14:00Z")
Birds are dinosaurs. You know, like badass. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/17 "2013-06-01T15:58:21Z")
Swans are bad asses. One moved into a pond where we play golf and it _owns_ that pond now. Don’t hit any golf balls in its general vicinity. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/18 "2013-06-01T16:55:10Z")
> [@Yorikke](#): > > I was trapped on the roof of a gazebo by a nesting swan. It was frightful. Fortunately, your valet was there to rescue you! ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/19 "2013-06-01T18:27:02Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Exactly. Got a problem with goose poop in and around your pond? Get a couple swans, problem solved. This doesn’t seem to be recommended as a good idea by some state agencies, like [Missouri](http://mdc.mo.gov/your-property/problem-plants-and-animals/nuisance-native-wildlife/resident-goose-control) or [Indiana](http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/files/mute_swan_3.pdf). At least when applied to introduced Mute Swans. Apparently they’ll exclude waterfowl near their nest, but not necessarily from the whole pond and we even act as visual lures to bring more geese in. Further since they are even more destructive to the environment pound for pound and rather more physically threatening to people, they can be a cure worse than the sickness. I imagine they might work in a really small pond, but I’ve seen a lot of geese co-existing with Mute Swans before. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827/20 "2013-06-01T20:11:37Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Swans will eat pretty much any small animal they can catch. This isn’t unusual behavior at all. I’ll take your word for it [but wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan)seems to indicate that they only eat fairly “small aquatic animals” in addition to plant material. I’m thinking things much smaller than a gosling. > [@](#): > > Swans feed in the water and on land. They are almost entirely herbivorous, although they may eat small amounts of aquatic animals. In the water food is obtained by up-ending or dabbling, and their diet is composed of the roots, tubers, stems and leaves of aquatic and submerged plants.[2] Also here- > [@](#): > > [What Do Swans Eat](http://wanttoknowit.com/what-do-swans-eat/) > > First, let’s look at what swans eat. Well, swans eat many types of aquatic plants including sedges and pond weed. However, swans have also been known to eat a variety of different insects, aquatic beetles, snails and fresh water shrimp. So now you know the answer to the question what do swans eat. Now let’s look at nine interesting and educational facts about swans [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-swan-mauling-this-tiny-gosling/659827.md?page=2)