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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 109(3)

Do neck-collars affect the behaviour and condition of Black Swans (Cygnus atratus)?

P.-J. Guay A B C and R. A. Mulder A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne, Vic. 3010, Australia.

B Present address: School of Engineering and Science, and Institute for Sustainability and Innovation, Victoria University, St Albans Campus, PO Box 14428, Melbourne, Vic. 8001, Australia.

C Corresponding author. Email: patrick.guay@vu.edu.au

Emu 109(3) 248-251 https://doi.org/10.1071/MU09020
Submitted: 11 March 2009  Accepted: 13 July 2009   Published: 25 August 2009

Abstract

Neck-collars are commonly used to identify geese and swans, but possible adverse effects of collars have been investigated in few species. We evaluated the effects of plastic neck-collars on the behaviour and condition of Black Swans (Cygnus atratus). We fitted 67 individuals with rigid, plastic neck-collars between July and November 2007, and three months later compared the behaviour of a sample of 16 collared Swans with that of 16 uncollared birds. There were no differences between collared and uncollared Swans in the percentage time spent resting, swimming or preening. Collared Swans tended to spend less time upending and more time dabbling than uncollared Swans, but the overall proportion of time spent foraging was similar, and the difference in preferred foraging mode did not result in differences in body condition. We suggest that neck-collars are suitable for identification of Black Swans.

Additional keywords: activity budget, animal welfare, body condition, waterfowl.


Acknowledgements

This study was supported by an ARC Discovery Grant (DP0558607) awarded to R. A. Mulder and Mark Elgar. Work was conducted under Animal Experimentation and Ethics Committee Registers (05065 and 0810883) and permits from the Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria (permit numbers 10003333 and 10004585). Banding was conducted under and bands provided by the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme (authority #1405). We thank Parks Victoria for their logistical support and numerous volunteers for help with fieldwork.


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