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A pair of bar-headed geese in flight

Bar-headed goose

Bar-headed geese have to reach extreme heights when they migrate over the Himalayas. To be able to do this, the species is physiologically and biochemically adapted to flying at altitudes where oxygen levels and temperatures are both extremely low.

Did you know?
Bar-headed geese can fly higher than Mount Everest making them the world's highest flying birds.

Scientific name: Anser indicus

Rank: Species

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Distribution

Map showing the distribution of the Bar-headed goose taxa

Species range provided by WWF's Wildfinder.

The Bar-headed goose can be found in a number of locations including: Asia, China, Himalayas, Russia, United Kingdom. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.

Habitats

The following habitats are found across the Bar-headed goose distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.

Behaviours

Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.

Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web

Conservation Status

Least Concern

  1. EX - Extinct
  2. EW
  3. CR - Threatened
  4. EN - Threatened
  5. VU - Threatened
  6. NT
  7. LC - Least concern

Year assessed: 2009

Classified by: IUCN 3.1

About

The Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus) is a goose which breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest.

Read more at Wikipedia

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Classification

  1. Life
  2. Animals
  3. Vertebrates
  4. Birds
  5. Anseriformes
  6. Ducks, geese and swans
  7. Anser
  8. Bar-headed goose

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