Goose

The Romans used Geese as guard animals because of their very aggressive nature and large numbers. They were so effective the Romans considered them sacred.

In medieval Europe many believed barnacle geese hatched from goose-necked barnacles. They were thus considered fish, not birds, and were eaten on Friday when only fish was permitted.

In the middle ages, British churches offered geese to parishioners at a fixed price of sixpence uncooked or seven pence cooked.

Geese were the traditional fare on Christmas Day, especially among the poor. However in the mid 20th century the goose fell down in the pecking order and the turkey became the most popular Christmas bird.

Until the nineteenth century, Christmas geese were walked to London from East Anglia in flocks over 1,000 strong.

The life expectancy of a goose is about 25 years.

History's oldest goose, George, died in Lancashire, England in 1976. He was 49, some 24 years older than the average old goose. George was owned by a Mrs. Florence Hull.

When ‘Grumpy Gertie’, the local goose in the Hertfordshire, England, village of Sandon was found dead, presumed shot, on February 21, 2016, a £275,000 reward was pledged to find the culprit. Tests later revealed Gertie was a gander that had died of natural causes.

Two geese have been patrolling the Sobral prison in São Paulo, Brazil, since 2017. The geese, named Duque and Duquesa, are trained to alert guards to any disturbances or potential escape attempts. The geese are very territorial and will honk if they see anything out of the ordinary. This has helped the guards to prevent several escape attempts and to quickly put down any disturbances.

Some Chinese police use geese instead of police dogs due to better vision and aggressiveness and because they have strong territorial instincts.

Canada Geese can consume up to 4lbs of grass per day, resulting in about 3lbs of fecal matter daily.

A male goose is called a "gander" and a baby goose is called a "gosling."

The expression “to take a gander”, meaning to have a good look around, is a reference to the long neck of the goose, stretching to get a better look.

A group of geese on the ground is a "gaggle"; a group flying in formation is a "wedge" or a "skein."

Baby Canada Geese are called goslings, They can dive 30-40 feet underwater by the time they are one day old.

The reason the plural of goose is geese but moose isn’t meese is because ‘moose’ is Native American in origin and so follows different language rules than Germanic words like tooth/teeth, or goose/geese.

Flying in a V formation has been shown to increase the range of geese by over 70 per cent.

Most species of goose are edible, but the African spur-winged goose is toxic to eat. It feeds on poisonous blister beetles and sequesters that poison in its tissues.

Geese are sometimes used instead of guard dogs. They have excellent eyesight, are very territorial, and can discern unusual people or sounds.

"Anatidaephobia" is the fear that somewhere, somehow a goose or duck is constantly watching you.

Source Daily Express