Red-Breasted Goose

by Lorraine Baum

Title

Red-Breasted Goose

Artist

Lorraine Baum

Medium

Photograph - Photographs

Description

I spotted this handsome fellow at the Denver Zoo. Wikipedia has this to say about this unusual bird:
"The red-breasted goose is sometimes placed in its own genus Rufibrenta but appears close enough to the brant goose (Branta bernicla) to make this unnecessary, despite its distinct appearance. Today all major authorities include the red-breasted goose in Branta. Genetic studies indicate that the red-breasted goose probably is one the few known examples of hybrid speciation in birds, being the result of ancient interbreeding between the ancestral brant goose and white-cheeked goose (the latter being the ancestral species that later split into all today's Branta species, except the brant and red-breasted geese). This interbreeding appears to have happened at least 3.5 million years ago, with the lineage of the red-breasted goose following its own evolutionary path since then"

Uploaded

June 21st, 2019

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