Branta

The black geese or white-cheeked geese of the genus Branta are waterfowl belonging to the true goose and swan subfamily Anserinae. They occur in the northern coastal regions of the Palearctic and all over North America, migrating to more southerly coasts in winter, and as resident birds in the Hawaiian Islands. Alone in the Southern Hemisphere, a self-sustaining feral population derived from introduced Canada geese is also found in New Zealand.

Branta

Michael Gil from Toronto, ON, Canada · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AnseriniPBDB
Diet
folivore, granivorePBDB, for Anserinae
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Anserinae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Anserinae

Time the record covers

At least 13 million years on record.

The record covers at least 13.82 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 132 occurrencesMiocene — about 5 of 132 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 132 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 72 of 132 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.9–3.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.1–2.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.4–1.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 114 occurrences13.82 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

132 occurrences of Branta on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

132 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

15 formations

Temblor — 35.46°N, 118.92°WTemblor — 36.54°N, 120.55°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WTamiami — 27.37°N, 82.45°WTamiami — 27.34°N, 82.51°WGabal Silsila — 24.43°N, 32.95°EAcredale — 36.79°N, 76.17°WKempsville — 36.79°N, 76.17°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.80°WAmerican Falls Lake Bed E — 42.80°N, 112.90°WWaimanalo — 21.30°N, 158.10°WTurlock Lake — 37.06°N, 120.20°WManix — 34.80°N, 117.00°WTulare — 37.73°N, 121.55°WSiesta — 37.85°N, 122.11°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Branta has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 111 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Branta and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Branta and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,795 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 106 sites for Branta, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

64 references

Each of the 132 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 52 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content4

Picture of Branta

Credit
Michael Gil from Toronto, ON, Canada
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D scan

Licence
CC0 — this site’s default, not the record’s
Commercial use
the licence allows it
Specimen
Branta hylobadistes Olson & James, 1991

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Branta Scopoli Branta canadensis · imnh:r:1089

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAnserini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Scopoli 1769