# Whooper swan (*Cygnus cygnus*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/whooper-swan  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

The whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus), also called the Whooping swan, is a bird in the waterfowl subgroup, belonging to the family Anatidae in the order Anseriformes. It is a medium-sized bird by body mass, with a representative adult weight of 9.35 kg (from 8.75 to 14 kg across sources) and a wingspan of 2.29 m. The whooper swan is a migratory, aquatic herbivore of wetland habitat, with a geographic range of 17,100,000 km². It lays 1 clutch per year of 4.9 eggs, which are incubated for 35 days, and it reaches sexual maturity at 4 years.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 8.75 kg – 14 kg |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Wingspan | 2.29 m |
| Lifespan | 25.2 years |
| Diet | Herbivore |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 26.5 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | wetland |
| Egg incubation | 35 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 4.5 – 4.92 |
| Age at maturity | 3.99 years |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1 |
| Lifestyle | Aquatic |
| Migration | Migratory |
| Conservation status | Least Concern (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Anseriformes
- family: Anatidae
- genus: Cygnus
- species: *Cygnus cygnus* (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms: *Anas cygnus*, *Anas musicus*, *Cygnus cygnus cygnus*, *Cygnus ferus*, *Cygnus islandicus*, *Cygnus linnéi*, *Cygnus musicus*, *Olor cygnus*

## Common questions

### What kind of animal is the whooper swan?

The whooper swan is a bird in the waterfowl subgroup. It belongs to the family Anatidae and the order Anseriformes.

### How heavy is a whooper swan?

An adult Whooper swan weighs 9.35 kg as a representative value, with reported values from 8.75 to 14 kg. Its wingspan is 2.29 m.

### What does the whooper swan eat?

The whooper swan is a herbivore. It has an aquatic lifestyle in wetland habitat.

### Is the whooper swan endangered?

No. The whooper swan is listed as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.

### How long does a whooper swan live?

The whooper swan has a lifespan of 25 years, with values up to 26.5 years reported.

### How many eggs does a whooper swan lay?

A whooper swan lays 4.9 eggs per clutch and 1 clutch per year. The eggs are incubated for 35 days.

### Is the whooper swan migratory?

Yes, the whooper swan is migratory. Its geographic range covers 17,100,000 km².

### Who named the whooper swan?

The whooper swan, Cygnus cygnus, was named by (Linnaeus, 1758).

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), CC0 1.0, E096-269. Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
- [AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7), CC BY 4.0, v7. Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
- [Catalogue of Life eXtended Release](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), CC BY 4.0, 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
- [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org), per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed), 2026-11-11. Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), CC BY-SA 4.0, 2026-11-11. Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

Cite as: Whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/whooper-swan