Territorial Behaviors

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Territorial Behaviors Boundaries of

• The Swans in Western Pond

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Research Questions

• How far does the territory of the mute swans in
  Western Pond extend beyond the perimeter of the
  pond?
• How do they react to different stimulus in their
  environment?

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Purpose

• Our goal for this project is to help the students
  at Miami University better understand the swans.
  This way they will be able to enjoy the swans
  safely and happily.

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Hypothesis

• The territory of the swans does not extend past
• The banks of the pond
• The road
• The bridge on the West bank
• The trees on the South bank

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Western Pond
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Predictions

• The swans will be seen by the North and East
  banks most often.
• These banks are sunny and the farthest away from
  cars and pedestrians.
• When we approach the pond we expect the swans to
  come over to us and beg for food.
• They are used to being fed by the grounds keepers
  and the students of Miami University.
• The swans will probably show threatening displays
  if we approach them within three feet on land.
• The male will arch his neck, spread his feathers,
  and make hissing noises

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What Do You Plan To Accomplish?

• Through our research we hope to illustrate that
  swans are usually not aggressive unless they are
  provoked or feel threatened.
• Our plan is to relieve some of the fear that
  people have towards these birds, and show that
  they are beautiful, and interesting creatures.

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Background Information
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Mute Swans

• Species Cygnus olors (Ivory, 2002)
• "are the most common swans in the wild," (Reily,
  1968)
• "This huge swan is one of the heaviest flying
  birds" (Wikipedia, 2004)

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Introduction

• The swan is a majestic waterfowl, "recognized as
  a symbol of elegance and grace in myth and
  legend" (Mackenzie 1988).
• Artists such as the famous musician Tchaikovsky
  (ballet Swan Lake) have immortalized their
  beauty.
• Swans are believed to descend from domesticated
  birds of the medieval era.
• Swans were originally bred for their meat in
  European nations.
• There are arguably- seven different species of
  swan" (Mackenzie, 1988).

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Appearance

• White plumage
• Black webbed feet
• Red-orange bill
• Black knob of skin where the bill connects to the
  head

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Appearance Continued

• The wingspan of the Mute Swan is between 2 and
  2.5 meters long. Its' height ranges from 144 to
  one 158 centimeters.
• "The two sexes are alike in appearance, except
  that males are generally larger than females"
  (Reily, 1968 Terres, 1980)

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What do baby mute swans look like?

• Baby Mute Swans are "called 'cygnets'" and their
  coloration is "brown rather than white, and lack
  the bright red bill" (Wikipedia, 2004).
• While in the juvenile stage, some brown feathers
  are still present and the bills are less
  colorful.
• Mute Swans stay in the juvenile stage until about
  one year of age.

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Habitat

• Mute Swans "live in well-sheltered bays, open
  marshes, lakes and ponds" (Reily, 1968 Terres,
  1980).
• Any body of water that has shallow areas with
  sufficient food sources for raising cygnets is a
  suitable habitat for Mute Swans.
• Mute Swans prefer lakes or ponds that contain
  small islands suspended by the water.
• They use these islands, or shallow banks, to
  build their nests, because these locations are
  easier to protect from predacious land mammals.
• This species is adaptive to new environments.

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Where Are Mute Swans From?

• The Mute Swan is found naturally "in temperate
  areas of Europe and Western Asia," but numbers in
  North America are rising steadily since its
  introduction.
• Mute Swans appeared in North America after being
  released, for ornamental purposes during the
  nineteenth century, in the Hudson Valley "as a
  park bird" (Johnsgard, 1975).
• since Mute Swans are reproducing so well in North
  American habitats, they are competing with some
  of the native species of waterfowl for food and
  territory. "This bird is very aggressive, and has
  been known to drive off such stubborn and
  similarly sized species as Canadian Geese and
  Trumpeter Swans" (Granlund, McPeek, and Adams,
  1994). Some wildlife managers consider Mute Swans
  an invasive species and are making attempts to
  control the spread of their population in North
  America to protect the integrity of some of the
  native species of birds.

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Diet and Eating Habits

• Aquatic vegetation
• Pondweeds
• musk grass
• eelgrass
• green algae
• Aquatic insects
• Fish
• Frogs
• Mollusks on rare occasions
• Waste grain or other terrestrial grasses
• Unlike other waterfowl, species of swans do not
  dive they have evolved long necks that they use
  for grazing on submerged plants under water.
• "Mute swans can reach underwater foods up to 50
  centimeters below the surface by upending,"
  (Johnsgard, 1975).
• Mute Swans spend a large portion of every day
  grazing, and adults eat an average of 8.4 pounds
  of vegetation per day" (Johnsgard, 1975).
• In the winter, swans in captivity are feed a good
  quantity of grains, "but lack of green food
  results in inferior condition and poor breeding"
  (Johnsgrad, 1975).
• Therefore, captive swans are fed lettuce, grass,
  and other weeds when there are no other plants
  alive.

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Behavior and Territory
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Partnerships

• One of the only species that have long-term
  monogamous relationships
• In a study by Clive Minton of continuous
  partnerships of Mute Swans, in 1968, he found
  that only 52 divorce events occurred in 492 pairs
  of Mute Swans.
• This is a 10.6 divorce rate, 42 of which
  occurred because of severe weather circumstance
  (Minton, 1968).
• These long-term relationships have expressed
  great success in procreation and viability of
  offspring.
• This monogamous style of mating is one of the
  primary reasons for the increasing number of Mute
  Swans in North American habitats.

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Sexual Behavior

• To begin the mating ritual, both the male and
  female swans conduct a series of threat postures,
  followed by "mutual calling while Chin-Lifting"
  (Johnsgard, 1975).
• There behavioral movements become synchronized in
  Head-dipping, preening, and up-ending.
• During the ritual "the wings are held very low,
  often dragging in the water" (Johnsgard, 1975).
• Eventually, the male "gradually pushes his neck
  and body over the female, and after treading the
  birds call and rise partially out of the water,"
  (Johnsgard, 1975).
• This is the portion of the mating ritual that is
  quite fascinating, because both swans actually
  look like they are attempting to dance on top of
  the water.
• As the final stage of this dance the pair,
  "lowers their bills and turns their heads in
  unison from side to side, gradually subsiding
  into the water" (Johnsgard, 1975).

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Mute Swans in Culture
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Leonardo Da VinciLeda with the Swan (1506)
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Salvador DaliSwans Reflecting Elephants (1937)
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Berthe Morisot's Summers Day (1879)

• Symbolism
• The Mute Swan has been honored by Western Asia as
  a symbol of everlasting love.
• They are considered romantic birds because they
  are beautiful and graceful creatures, and almost
  always seen in male/female pairs.
• Literature
• Hans Christian Andersen's "The Ugly Duckling".
• Dr. Seuss's "The Lorax."
• The Swomee-Swans play a vital role in this book.
  "My poor Swomee-Swans...why they can't sing a
  not! No one can sing who has smog in his throat."

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Swan Lake
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Research Design
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Experimental Design

• On a daily basis we will go down to the pond to
  record data on the swans.
• We will take qualitative data in the location
  portion on our data sheet, using the sections of
  the banks that we have marked on our map.
• The averages from our data will be made into maps
  and graphs.
• We will experiment with walking up to the swans.
  We will test how close we can approach, while the
  swans feel comfortable. When we walk up to them
  we will watch to see if they stop what they are
  doing.
• When we approach the swans we will find out about
  how territorial and aggressive they are.
• Another experiment will be the mirror test. We
  will place a mirror near the pond, and watch the
  reactions the swans have.
• The experiment with the mirror will show us how
  the swans react to predators and other birds.
• Our experimental techniques are designed to
  answer our research questions completely. Our
  data sheet and graphs will tell us the boundaries
  of the swans territory and where they spend the
  most time.

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Materials and Methods

• Digital camera (w\ audio recording
  capabilities)
• to take pictures of the swans and their habitat.
  
• We will also collect samples of the sounds that
  the swans make.
• Scanner
• to copy maps and pictures onto computer
• Maps of Miami University (Including Western Pond)
  
• Photoshop
• to create maps and crop pictures
• Data sheet
• imovie program
• to record experiments
• Laptop
• to use imovie and Photoshop

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Class Participation

• We are asking the class to go over to the pond
  at least four times during this semester to
  record data for our group.
• We will add the information we receive from our
  classmates into our group data sheet to acquire a
  broader amount of statistical data for our
  graphs.
• If you have not finished filling out your data
  sheet it would be helpful if you would make your
  visits to the pond in the morning.