Egg Weight, Survival, and Growth of Lesser Snow Goose Goslings

Abstract

Research done at McConnell River, Northwest Territories [Canada], in 1975, showed that heavier eggs of lesser snow geese (C. c. caerulescens) contained more yolk, albumen and shell (dry wt) than did lighter eggs, although heavier eggs did not have proportionately more or less of these components. Goslings that hatched from heavier eggs survived starvation longer than did goslings from lighter eggs. The mortality rate of goslings used in a growth experiment was much higher for goslings from light eggs than for those from heavy eggs. Body weights and tarsus and culmen lengths of newly hatched goslings were positively correlated with fresh egg weights. These effects disappeared as the goslings grew; at fledging, goslings from lighter eggs were not significantly lighter or smaller than those from heavier eggs. Goslings that hatch from heavier eggs have short-term, but apparently not permanent advantages over goslings from lighter eggs.