Sean Gaunt, age 11, of Duncan, British Columbia, Canada, for his question:
WHAT IS A MUTE SWAN?
Stately swans are water birds that are closelyrelated to geese and ducks. Most swans have pure white feathers and very long, graceful necks. Through the years, poets and composers have been fascinated by the large birds. Swans also appear in fairy tales and ancient legends that have been told for hundreds of years. The big birds are definitely special animals.
Seven different kinds of birds are found in the swan family. They are the world's largest water fowl and also are among the most graceful despite their size.
Five of the species, the whooper, bewick's, whistling, thumper and mute swan, are the pure white birds of the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. They breed in the far north and migrate south into more temperate northern waters in winter.
The two other swans live in the Southern Hemisphere. They include the handsome blacknecked swan who lives in Brazil, Argentina and Chile to the even more handsome black swan of Australia and Tasmania.
The mute swan has a knob on its beak. Originally a native of northern Europe, it was domesticated very early in history and raised in captivity first for its meat and then later for its great beauty. Domesticated stock that was introduced into North America and Australia has since gone wild and small populations can now be found living free in both areas.
Medieval records show that mute swans were first domesticated in Great Britain before the 12th Century. At first they were regarded as the property of the Crown. They could be raised and trafficked in only under royal license, enforced by a king's swan master and his deputies. In the wild state, the mute swan probably bred farther south in Europe than the other species, and only its protection by man in this way has succeeded in perpetuating it as its original nesting ground was taken over by humans.
While the mute swan can make noises, it seldom if ever does. A favorite in zoos, it is said by many experts that the mute swan never uses its voice in captivity.
An adult male mute swan will measure five feet long.
The neararctic whistling swan breeds in the muskeg and tundra country between Alaska and Hudson Bay and migrates southwest to California and southeast to Chesapeake Bay and Currituck Sound.
The trumpeter swan breeds from southern Alaska south to Idaho and Indiana and winters in the southern parts of California and Texas.