CreatureData

Ross's goose

Anser rossii Cassin, 1861

LCLeast Concernwaterfowl

Ross's goose (Anser rossii) is a bird in the waterfowl group, belonging to the family Anatidae and the genus Anser. It is a migratory, terrestrial herbivore, and its habitat is wetland.

Ross's goose (Anser rossii)
Photo: Andrew C · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the ross's goose

Adults typically weigh about 1.64 kg, placing it in the medium size class, and its IUCN Red List category is Least Concern.

Weight
1.5 kg – 1.68 kgsrc for Weight
Length
57.3 cm – 64 cmsrc for Length
Wingspan
1.13 m – 1.16 msrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
21.5 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Herbivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
22.5 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
wetlandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
22 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
4 – 4.5src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
18.7 months – 2.02 yearssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
1src for Litters or clutches a year
Reproduction
Eggssrc for Reproduction
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Migratorysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the ross's goose?

ROSS'S GOOSE · LENGTH 64 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 64 cm, the recorded maximum length of the ross's goose is about 38% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the ross's goose

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Ross's goose (Anser rossii)
JerryFriedman · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the ross's goose live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the ross's goose as introduced in 4 countries.

  1. Belgium
  2. Germany
  3. Poland
  4. Sweden

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

What is the ross's goose?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

Ross's goose (Anser rossii) is a white goose with black wingtips and a relatively short neck. It is the smallest of the three white geese that breed in North America. It is similar in appearance to a white-phase snow goose, but about 40% smaller. Other differences from the snow goose are that the bill is smaller in proportion to its body and lacks "black lips". Like snow geese, Ross's geese may exhibit a darker "blue" phase or morph, though this is extremely rare (<0.01% of adult birds).

Before the early 1900s, this goose was considered a rare species, possibly as a consequence of open hunting, but numbers have increased dramatically as a result of conservation measures. It is now listed as a species of Least Concern by the IUCN, and is protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Ross's goose is named in honor of Bernard R. Ross (1827–1874), who was associated with the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada's Northwest Territories. Members of the Hudson's Bay Company were the first Europeans to discover the arctic nesting grounds of Ross's geese in 1940. The first recognizable description of Ross's geese, under the name "horned wavey", was given by explorer Samuel Hearne 80 years before John Cassin named it after Ross.

From the Wikipedia article “Ross's goose” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ross%27s_goose&oldid=1380703314), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the ross's goose endangered?

The ross's goose is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the ross's goose classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderAnseriformes
  5. familyAnatidae
  6. genusAnser
  7. SpeciesAnser rossii Cassin, 1861

Synonyms Anser rossi rossi, Anser rossii rossii, Chen rossii

Other names and names in other languages (54)
  • Horned wary Ross’ gooseEnglish
  • Horned waveyEnglish
  • Ross' gooseEnglish
  • Ross’s gooseEnglish
  • إوز روزArabic
  • Гъска на РосBulgarian
  • Gwaz RossBreton
  • oca de RossCatalan
  • Росс комбыMari
  • husa bělostnáCzech
  • Gŵydd RossWelsh
  • DværgsnegåsDanish
  • Ross-SchneegansGerman
  • ZwergschneegansGerman
  • glacianseroEsperanto
  • Ansar de RossSpanish
  • Ánsar de RossSpanish
  • Ganso de RossSpanish
  • väike-lumehaniEstonian
  • eskimohanhiFinnish
  • Lítil snjógásFaroese
  • Oie de RossFrench
  • Mionghé shneachtaIrish
  • Guiy RossScottish Gaelic
  • אווז רוסHebrew
  • אווז קנדיHebrew
  • bijela guskaCroatian
  • hólúdHungarian
  • KaaraqInuktitut
  • MjallgæsIcelandic
  • Oca di RossItalian
  • ヒメハクガンJapanese
  • Roso žąsisLithuanian
  • Šiaurinė žaćsisLithuanian
  • Rosa zossLatvian
  • Ross-gansDutch
  • ross’ gansDutch
  • Ross' GansDutch
  • eskimogåsNorwegian
  • śnieżyca małaPolish
  • ganso-de-rossPortuguese
  • ganso-das-neves-pequenoPortuguese
  • Гусь РоссаRussian
  • RossičuonjáNorthern Sami
  • vilgesčuonjáNorthern Sami
  • hus snežničkaSlovak
  • mala snežna gosSlovenian
  • Rosova guskaSerbian
  • dvärgsnögåsSwedish
  • Küçük Kar KazıTurkish
  • гуска РосаUkrainian
  • Ross' hanzeZeelandic
  • 細嘴雁Chinese
  • 细嘴雁Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the ross's goose

Other species in the same genus Anser.

LC, Least Concern
Snow goose (Anser caerulescens)

Snow goose

Anser caerulescens

Anatidae

CompareRoss's goose vs Greylag gooseRoss's goose vs Taiga bean gooseRoss's goose vs Bar-headed gooseRoss's goose vs Greater white-fronted goose

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What is the scientific name of Ross's goose?

Ross's goose is Anser rossii, named by Cassin, 1861.

How heavy is Ross's goose?

Adults typically weigh about 1.64 kg. It falls in the medium size class.

What does Ross's goose eat?

Ross's goose is a herbivore.

Is Ross's goose endangered?

No. Its IUCN Red List category is Least Concern (LC), which is not a threatened category.

How many eggs does Ross's goose lay?

A clutch has 4 or 5 eggs, with 1 clutch per year. Incubation lasts 22 days.

How long does Ross's goose live?

The sheet gives a lifespan of 22 years, with up to 22 years as the highest recorded value.

Is the ross's goose an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the ross's goose as introduced in 4 countries: Belgium, Germany, Poland and Sweden, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Ross's goose (Anser rossii). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/rosss-goose

MLA

“Ross's goose (Anser rossii).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/rosss-goose.

BibTeX
@misc{rosss_goose_2026,
  title = {Ross's goose (Anser rossii)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/rosss-goose},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}