Top 10 Fastest Animals In The World
4. Spur Winged Goose, 88.23 mph
Sour Winged Goose is the largest group in the goose family native to South Africa, are 40 inches long and weighs up to 8 kg. Spur Winged Goose can flies with maximum speed of 88.23 mph.
They are mainly found in wet lands, bank of rivers and likes in Africa. Sour Winged Goose also make migration ranging to several hundreds of kilometers in different seasons.
Advertisements
Advertisements
The spur-winged goose is a large bird in the family Anatidae, related to the geese and the shelducks, but distinct from both of these in a number of anatomical features, and therefore treated in its own subfamily, the Plectropterinae. It occurs in wetlands throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
The spur-winged goose is gregarious, generally meeting in small flocks that contain up to 50 birds. They occur around various African rivers, lakes and swamps. Varied sites may be used for post-breeding moulting, in which case large numbers of the geese may congregate. This common species feeds by grazing, but spends the middle part of the day resting by water.
Its diet consists predominantly of plant matter such as the vegetative parts and seeds of grasses, sedges and aquatic plants, agricultural grains, fruit and tuberous crops, although it may occasionally supplement the diet with small fish or insects. Dispersal may occur in pursuit of feeding opportunities outside of the breeding season.
The breeding season for spur-winged geese is variable across the range. In the north, breeding generally occurs from August to December, in eastern Africa from January to June and in southern Africa from August to May. This species is highly aggressive to other waterfowl during the breeding season. At this time of the year, the geese may violently put the spur on the bend of the wings to use in conflicts with other birds. Adult male geese are especially prone to attacking other adult males.
The large nest is usually concealed in vegetation near water, but tree holes, cavities in rocks, old hamerkop, African fish eagle or social weaver nests and even the top of a termite mound and an aardvark burrow have been used as nests. When choosing a tree-nest site, they will generally select a nest located close to the ground at between 20 and 100 cm high in trees 3 to 4 m high. Generally, they prefer quiet, undisturbed stretches of riverbank and wetlands for nest sites.