- Where to see one
- 4 U.S. zoos in our directory hold ross's goose, confirmed against each zoo's own animal list.
Conservation status
Not Evaluated
This species has not been assessed for the IUCN Red List, so it sits outside the threat scale entirely.
About the ross's goose
Ross's goose is a white goose with black wingtips and a relatively short neck, and the smallest of the three white geese that breed in North America. It resembles a white-phase snow goose but is about 40% smaller, with a shorter bill that lacks black lips. It nests in large colonies on islands in shallow lakes and on the adjacent mainland in the central Arctic, building ground nests of twigs, leaves, grass, moss and down. The geese migrate south from Canadian nesting grounds by mid-October and graze on grasses, sedges and small grains, often in mixed flocks with snow geese.
Ross's Goose facts
- Numbers in the Queen Maud Gulf fell to 2,000-3,000 in the early 1950s, due to shooting and trapping.
- A rare dark blue phase occurs in under 0.01% of adults.
- Samuel Hearne gave the first recognizable description, calling it the horned wavey.
- It is named for Bernard R. Ross of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Where to see ross's goose in the U.S.
4 zoos across 4 states
Find the closest one
Rank the 3 zoos holding ross's goose by how far they are from you. Your location is used in your browser to sort this list and is never sent to us.
1 more zoo holds ross's goose but has no coordinates on file yet, so it isn't ranked here. It's in the full list below.
Connecticut· 1
District of Columbia· 1
Massachusetts· 1
New York· 1
AZAThe Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Accredited members have passed an independent inspection of animal care and welfare, safety, conservation and education, repeated every five years. Many smaller facilities never apply, so “not accredited” isn't a verdict on its own. What accreditation means · How we check this
Built from each zoo's own published animal list.
