30 December: Six Geese a laying

Today is the Sixth day of Christmas, on which, according to the song, my true love sent to me: six geese a laying. Here are ten things you didn't know about geese.

1. The word "goose" applies mainly to the female of the species. The male is a gander and the young are goslings. The collective noun "gaggle" applies to a group of geese on the ground. In flight, they are a skein, a team, or a wedge; when flying close together, they are called a plump.
2. Geese are thought to have been the first birds to be domesticated. Charles Darwin cites evidence that there were domesticated geese more than 4,000 years ago in Egypt.
3. No doubt Darwin was interested in geese because over the millennia, differences have emerged between domesticated geese and their wild cousins. Many of the differences look like the direct results of selective breeding. Domestic geese are larger (more meat on them) weighing up to 10 kilograms (22 lb) while wild geese don't weigh more than about 4.1 kilograms (9.0 lb). Their bodies are different in shape - domestic geese have fatter bottoms which make them walk more upright and makes it harder for them to fly (less likely to escape). Domestic geese are more fertile - a farmyard goose can lay up to 50 eggs a year while a wild goose lays no more than twelve. Wild geese mate for life, whereas a domestic gander often has a harem (possibly because females outnumber males in the farmyard, because they produce eggs and are therefore more useful kept alive). Domestic geese have been selected for White plumage (so when plucked and ready to eat any feathers left behind are less conspicuous).
4. Wild geese migrate as far as 2,000-3,000 miles in order to return to where they were hatched to mate. The V formation geese fly in helps them cover these great distances - the formation can fly 71% further than geese flying alone. The goose in front creates an uplift as it flaps its wings, meaning the geese following don't have to work so hard. The geese will take it in turns to be the lead goose. There's also a possible social aspect - the following geese honk at the geese in front to encourage them to keep up their speed.
5. Geese have a reputation for being fierce and attacking people in farmyards. Geese guarded the temple of Juno in ancient Rome, once protected a Scottish brewery, and there are still guard geese at police stations in rural China.
6. That said, geese are sociable birds. There are bonds between members of a group. If, during migration, a bird is injured or ill, a couple of the others will drop out of formation to look after it, continuing on later when the sick bird recovers or dies. In the farmyard, geese get along well with other animals. Goslings will "imprint" on the person who feeds them as a chick, and will have a bond with that person for the rest of their lives.
7. Geese have inspired several sayings in the English language, such as "his goose is cooked", meaning he is about to suffer a terrible misfortune; "a wild goose chase" is a useless, futile waste of time and effort; and "killing the goose that lays the golden Eggs", referring to a greed-motivated action that renders a favourable situation useless, comes from Mother Goose and similar fables warning against the dangers of greed.
8. Geese are mostly herbivores, and live on fresh grass and greenery, but have been known to eat the occasional mealworm. The inside of a goose's beak, and its tongue, are serrated to help it cut through grass stems while feeding. They can be picky eaters, preferring fertilized over grass to unfertilized. This is why they can be pests on golf courses or well maintained Lawns.
9. Perhaps their predilection for golf course grass is the reason for a historical use of geese - the first golf balls were stuffed with goose feathers. Another historical use of geese was by Victorian chimney sweeps who would send a goose down the chimney to dislodge coal and soot.
10. The Charites (Roman "Graces"), had a chariot which was drawn by geese.