Swans are precious animals with high aesthetic and cultural value and are loved by people.
Swans have wild species or subspecies on all continents except Africa.
The four white species are found in the northern hemisphere and are collectively known as mute swans or northern-hemisphere swans.
The black swans are found in the southern hemisphere in places such as Australia, and the black-necked swans are found in South America, where they are collectively known as southern-hemisphere swans.
The swan is regarded as a symbol of loyalty and eternal love and people often use the swan as a metaphor for faithful love.
The swan also has the symbolic meaning of peace and kindness, loyalty, courage, and high aspirations.
Since ancient times, people call it the angel of beauty and goodness.
Swans are a kind of winter migratory bird, preferring to roost in lakes and marshes, feeding mainly on aquatic plants. Swans are high-flying champions, flying at heights of up to 9 kilometers, and can fly over the world's highest mountain - Mount Everest.
Male and female swans form lifelong mates. Courtship behaviors include touching each other with their bills or leaning on each other with their heads.
Eggs are incubated by the female swan, while the male swan stands guard nearby. In some species, the male also replaces the incubated eggs.
The swan can run and swim a few hours after they emerge from the shell.
In nature, swans can live 20 years, captive can live more than 50 years.
Because the swan body is very heavy, when they take off they have to run forward in the water or ground for some distance.
Swan couples spend their lives together and are very responsible for their offspring.
In order to defend their nests, eggs, and chicks, they dare to fight to the death with foxes and other animals.
Eastern and Western cultures in Eurasia have coincidentally taken the white swan as a symbol of purity, loyalty, and nobility.
In England, a poet or singer of distinction can be compared to a swan, for example, Shakespeare's alias is none other than Avon's Swan.
The swan is also portrayed in Western music and literature, as in Saint-Saƫns' Death of a Swan.
Tchaikovsky's dance drama Swan Lake has a noble and holy image of the swan, and Hans Christian Andersen used the changing color of the swan's feathers to interpret a moving piece of the ugly duckling.
The constellations in the starry sky also have the figure of the swan, which is the incarnation of Zeus in Greek mythology, and many artists have created heirloom artworks with Leda and the swan as the theme.
Around the world the swan named place names are countless, the last name of the Swan is also from this beautiful white bird.
But the trumpeter swan was once an important hunting target due to its large size and white plumage.
Due to over hunting and the reclamation of wetlands, the population of trumpeter swans has been drastically reduced.
The breeding population in Greenland is now extinct due to extensive hunting. The breeding population in Iceland is also only 5,000-6,000. Japan has 11,000.
Fortunately, as countries around the world have paid attention to the conservation of swans, the population of swans around the world has increased significantly.
We have the responsibility to protect these beautiful swans!