Was riding along yesterday and saw some geese land in a field, right in amongst a flock of sheep. The sheep are quite a lot bigger than the geese but the geese dont seem at all bothered by them. If i move towards a goose it runs or flys away, if a sheep moves towards a goose they aren’t at all bothered.
How do geese know that sheep are safe for them?
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Aksed this at work this morning. My colleague said ‘do sheep eat any birds?’ had a good long think about it and then decided that they don’t….

Jungian collective unconscious.

They’ve probably noticed that sheep only go for stuff that can be eaten without needing any prep.

Even if none of the flock had ever seen a sheep(or for example a larma that’s non native), unconsciously they(and you) know sheep don’t look like predators

Predators tend to have adaptations to aid hunting, sharp pointy teeth, hooked beaks, eyes facing the front for depth perception to aid hunting dogs,cats,bears,humans, hawks etc

Prey/omnivores tend to have eyes on the side for better all round visibility to keep an eye out for predators sheep, cows, geese

Why would geese be scared of clouds?

Why would geese be scared of clouds?

Because clouds are wet, cold, have nasty thermals, hail circulating, are difficult to see in… . Geese like most birds are scared of clounds and will fly under, over and around them.

However sheep.

how do cuckoo chicks know that they migrate to Africa in the winter ?

I would have thought its just knowledge passed down…a geese flies with older geese and follows them into a field with sheep/cattle/etc and learns that those animals are harmless and generally finding landing sites with those animals present is a safe environment so, as they become the older geese leading younger geese, that knowledge passes down.

In the same way, we learn that geese are double hard bastards that should be approached with extreme caution

On a related note, how do pigeons know to fly OVER water but ducks know that they can land IN the water?

Why don’t pigeons ever look at a duck landing in the water and think “oh that’s a good place to land, I’ll set down there too”.

Why don’t pigeons ever look at a duck landing in the water and think “oh that’s a good place to land, I’ll set down there too”.

Perhaps its thinking , “yeah but that’s a duck” in the same way we’d think “ yeah but that’s a boat”

The other day I saw some geese being hassled by playful and inquisitive lambs until they flew off to graze in peace somewhere else presumably having learnt about sheep.

O.P. posted 9 hours ago.
He should be coming down around now. I used to find orange juice helped.
🙂

The pigeons with the landing on water gene all sadly lacked the floating gene are all at the bottom of the lake

Sheep can trample the nests of ground nesting birds. Maybe not a problem for geese, but it can be for other birds, eg oystercatcher or curlew. There have been reports of sheep eating curlew eggs or chicks.

Geese like most birds are scared of clounds and will fly under, over and around them.

However sheep.

…are notoriously difficult to fly under

How come every bird knows a train travelling at speed is something to avoid, but pheasants seem to throw themselves in front of them?

Why don’t pigeons ever look at a duck landing in the water and think “oh that’s a good place to land, I’ll set down there too”.

Because of the sharks.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/05/how-songbirds-ended-inside-stomachs-sharks/589909/

It’s all because of the bravery (some say stupidity) of a goose legend known only as ‘Micheal the goose’.

After an all day sesh at the thier local spoons, the lads dared him to approach a sheep, which, full of drunken bravado, he did.

The sheep paid him no mind to the astonishment his squad, and the rest, as they say, is history.

If it waddles, quacks, looks like a duck…it’s probs a duck, right?

Same thing

There is a type of honk that means ‘nah, they’re fine’.
Why do deer run away from me on my bike? I’ve never harmed a deer and have no intention to. I’d stroke it if I got close, in a nice way. But still they run.
My bike is called an Instinct, btw.

Evolution! The geese that wasted their time and energy running away from sheep didn’t spend as much time getting jiggy.

Ergo the geese that didn’t run away from sheep had more goslings. Result: Anatidaen domination.

He should be coming down around now. I used to find orange juice helped.

I never found orange juice made any difference, ate a whole orange once peel and all.

Why do deer run away from me on my bike?

Because they are flight animals (very flighty) so run away from everything just in case.

They send one ahead to have a gander.

Exhibit a)

Exhibit b)

Exhibit c)

Exhibit d)

Exhibit e)

Goose doesn’t care whether sheep would like to eat them or not, they know it’s not going to happen regardless

Geese don’t really fear anything, I see alot whilst riding down the canal.
They generally stand thier ground and give me dirty looks. But when it’s nesting season they quite often hiss and flap, and get pretty agro, they rarely actually snap at me, but i know they would if I wasn’t just passing by.

i eat sheep

Gracie’s a crap dog. My GSP would have that thing’s head off in seconds.

Because they are flight animals (very flighty) so run away from everything just in case.
I wuz being rhetorical.

My goose would take out your dog, no problem.

Geese or rather their goslings should be more afraid of canal locks.Seen a couple die this week 🙁

Deer are rubbish. We see them all the time on local trails, I reckon I could jump off my bike and catch one, maybe two.

However sheep.

The most dangerous animal in the world is a clever sheep…

However sheep.

…are notoriously difficult to fly under

Sheep don’t so much fly as plummet.

The pigeons with the landing on water gene all sadly lacked the floating gene are all at the bottom of the lake

Or in the stomach of a shark…

How come every bird knows a train travelling at speed is something to avoid, but pheasants seem to throw themselves in front of them?

Have you seen the size of a pheasants head? They’re barely smarter than algae! They’re bred in huge numbers to be shot at, they don’t last long enough to breed a smart pheasant, evolution doesn’t get a look in.

In the same way, we learn that geese are double hard bastards that should be approached with extreme caution

Geese are basically the honey badger of the avian world.

I wonder if Itlab has got it?
This would explain why zebras aren’t scared of giraffes (which are bigger than them0 but are scared of cheetahs (which are smaller than them)
I wonder if we could prove this experimaentally?
Anyone got a gosling which has never met a sheep or wolf and also a sheep and a wolf?

Weirdly, geese really really like gooseberries; they’ll strip a bush in minutes.