The Egyptian goose is a large, heavy waterbird with distinctive eye patches. The plumage varies in colour from grey to dark brown, and it has white wings which are usually not visible unless it is flying or showing aggression. It has a pink beak with a dark spot on the upper mandible, and pink legs and feet.
Male and female Egyptian geese are identical, although the males on average are slightly larger. The only way to tell the sexes apart in the field is from their vocalisations. The male has a rather subdued quack whereas the female’s is much louder, which, if she or her young are disturbed, she will produce almost incessantly.
The species’ scientific name is Alopochen aegyptiaca with Alopochen coming from the Greek for ‘fox-goose’ due to the reddish colour of the bird’s beak.
Despite its name, the Egyptian goose is actually a duck and sits in the Anatidae family. It is most closely related to the shelducks and is part of the same subfamily Tadorninae.
It is in a separate genus Alopochen, and the only extant member of the group, which also contained the Mauritius sheldgoose or Mauritius shelduck (Alopochen mauritiana) that was endemic to the island of Mauritius until it became extinct in the late 1600s.
Although many species look similar, there are some significant differences between ducks and geese, but these are not always obvious when observing them. Scientists use the number of bones in their necks as well as DNA data to categorise them correctly.
When the Egyptian goose was first described, scientific techniques were not sophisticated enough to classify it correctly and so it was called a goose due to its resemblance to the genus.
Egyptian geese are native to Sub-Saharan Africa and the Nile Valley. In Egypt, it is most abundant in the south of the country and is mainly a visitor in the northern Nile Valley. Until the 18th century it was also found naturally in south-eastern Europe, and until the early part of the 20th century, Turkey and the western Middle East too. Records from this time are incomplete and reasons for its disappearance are unknown.
They are found in open habitats near fresh water across both lowland and upland areas, and although they are good swimmers they spend most of their time on the ground and will also perch in trees and on buildings.
They are typically herbivorous with a diet consisting of seeds, leaves, grasses, shoots, and plant stems, as well as grain, potatoes, and other vegetables. Occasionally they will also eat locusts, worms, and small insects. During the day they may move to search for food in grasslands and fields but will always return to be near water at night.
In ancient Egyptian mythology, Egyptian geese were considered sacred. One creation myth tells of Gengen Wer, a deity who symbolised a force of creative energy and took the form of a Nile goose, as the Egyptian goose was then known. His name is onomatopoeic, derived from ‘honker’ (gengen) and ‘great’ (wer), so he is also referred to as the Great Honker or sometimes Negneg Wer, meaning the Great Cackler.
In the myth, Gengen Wer laid a golden egg which hatched the sun represented by the god Ra. Gengen Wer was also closely associated with one of Ancient Egypt’s most powerful gods Amun, god of the air, who was combined with Ra into one god during the New Kingdom between the 16th and 11th centuries BC. Amun therefore is also often depicted as a Nile goose.
In Chapter 59 of The Book of the Dead, an Ancient Egyptian funerary text written in about 1550 BC, the Great Honker and his egg is mentioned in relation to a spell for breathing air and having power over water in the Underworld:
Spell for giving breath to a man in the god’s domain.
To be said by Osiris:
Atura, give me the sweet breath of thy nostrils. I am that egg of the Great Honker. I guarded that great egg that separated Geb from the earth. If I live, it lives, and vice versa. If I grow old, it grows old. If I breathe air, it breathes air.
I am one whose purity is recognised, whose Name is about his egg, for whom time becomes pregnant, the great of strength.
Spell for breathing air.
Atura, Atum, give me the sweet breath that is in thy nose. I am that egg of the great honker. If I live, it lives, and vice versa, and it hatches.
According to the Ancient Egyptians, after a person died, their spirit would enter the Underworld where they would face a series of challenges. The magic spells in the Book of Dead were intended to help the dead person overcome these, and if they did, they would be rewarded with eternal life in the afterlife. By guarding the Great Honker’s egg, a person in the Underworld would be assured of their place in the creation in the afterlife.
Geb, mentioned in the spell above, was the Egyptian god of the earth, farming, and fertility. He was also said to be the father of snakes and was associated with earthquakes. He is often portrayed with a goose standing on his head and some Egyptologists thought that meant he was the mythical goose god who laid the golden egg.
However, this theory has been largely dismissed and it’s now thought that the goose on Geb’s head is a white-fronted goose, that had the Egyptian name ‘gb’ meaning ‘lame one’, and was a hieroglyph used to spell Geb’s name.
Various Ancient Egyptian artefacts that depict the Nile goose have been discovered including a relief at the Karnak Temple Complex, a brass and wooden sculpture held in Fondation Gandur pour l’Art in Switzerland, and a scarab engraved with a goose and a sun disc held in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
There are almost 2,000 pairs of breeding Egyptian geese in the UK with an additional 3,000 joining them over winter.
It was first introduced to Britain in the 17th century when it was brought over from its native Africa to be part of ornamental collections held at country estates and parks. Until relatively recently the species did not spread much outside of these private collections and found survival in the wild difficult.
They breed early in the year starting as early as December, which meant the cold winter weather and lack of suitable food including plankton and small invertebrates, made chick survival unlikely.
However, since the 1970s the feral population has increased, and Egyptian geese are now found across Norfolk, Berkshire, London, and other places along the River Thames. The population is self-sustaining and although they are not yet considered a threat to native species if their numbers increase significantly there is the risk they could compete or crossbreed with other ducks.
Egyptian geese are also found in mainland Europe with a population of over 100,000 in the Netherlands despite only being introduced there in 1967, as well as Israel, Mauritius, the United Arab Emirates, and parts of the United States.
