Cygnus columbianus

The tundra swan is a species of swan which breeds in the arctic, and overwinters in North America, Europe, and Asia. It is the smallest of the Holarctic swans, at 115–150 cm (45–59 in) in length, 168–211 cm (66–83 in) in wingspan and 3.4–9.6 kg (7.5–21.2 lb) in weight. Typically, the plumage of adults is entirely white, with solid black feet, a black beak that has varying amounts of yellow, and a thin streak of pink along the mouthline, although colour variation is common.

Cygnus columbianus

Maga-chan · CC BY-SA 2.5 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
tundra swanPBDB
Sits inside
CygnusPBDB
Diet
folivore, granivorePBDB, for Anserinae
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Anserinae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Anserinae
Mass
6.31 kgWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 3.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 17 occurrencesPliocene — about 1 of 17 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 10 of 17 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 6 of 17 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 12 occurrences3.6 Mya11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

17 occurrences of Cygnus columbianus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

17 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

4 formations

Yorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WCromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.27°ETurlock Lake — 37.06°N, 120.20°WManix — 34.80°N, 117.00°W

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The named rock units Cygnus columbianus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 13 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cygnus columbianus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Cygnus columbianus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

861 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 17 sites for Cygnus columbianus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

15 references

Each of the 17 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 3 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Cygnus columbianus

Credit
Maga-chan
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Cygnus columbianus · TCWC:Birds:24882

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCygnus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Ord 1815)