All geese eat a largely vegetarian diet, and can become pests when flocks feed on arable crops or inhabit ponds or grassy areas in urban environments.
A genus of prehistorically extinct seaducks, Chendytes, is sometimes called "diving-geese" due to their large size.
True geese (tribe Anserini) are medium to large birds, always—with the exception of the N?n? (Branta sandvicensis, "Hawaiian goose")—associated to a greater or lesser extent with water.
Among the Anatidae, true geese are characterized by a strong bill, a wide nail, and stout and flat lamella (Grzimek et al.
Most species of geese in Europe, Asia, and North America are strongly migratory as wild birds, breeding in the far north and wintering much further south.
Males of all Anatidae, including the geese, have a copulatory organ that is evaginated from the cloaca for copulation (Grzimek et al.
A group of geese on the ground is called a gaggle; when flying in formation, it is called a wedge or a skein.
Hunting of jaguars is restricted to "problem animals" in Brazil, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru, while trophy hunting is still permitted in Bolivia.
A number of birds belonging to the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae and living mainly in the Southern Hemisphere are also called "geese."
Geese usually mate for life, and stay paired for several seasons, though a small number will "divorce" and remate.
The flight feathers of true geese are molted only once a year and are lost simultaneously so that flying is not possible for that short period of time (Gzimek et al.
The subfamily Anserinae (geese and swans) is mostly limited in its distribution to temperate and sub-arctic regions (Grzimek et al.
The Anatidae family also includes swans, most of which are larger than geese and have a longer neck, and ducks, which are smaller than geese and have a more pointed bill.