![]() Concentration of Bar-Headed Goose Bar-headed goose has sometimes been separated from Anser, which has no member indigenous to the Indian region not any at all to the Ethiopian, Australian, or Neotropical regions and placed in the monotypic genus Eulabeia. Structure of Bar-Headed Goose Bar-headed goose is pale grey and is easily distinguished from any of the other grey geese of the genus Anser by the black bars on its head. It is also much paler than the other geese in this genus. In flight, its call is a typical goose honking. A mid-sized goose measures 71-76 cm (28-30 in) in total length and weighs 1.87-3.2 kilograms. ![]() Supplies of Oxygen by Bar-Headed Goose The main physiological challenge of bar-headed geese is extracting oxygen from hypoxic air and transporting it to aerobic muscle fibres in order to sustain flight at high altitudes. Flight is very metabolically costly at high-altitudes because birds need to flap harder in thin air to generate lift. The haemoglobin of their blood has a higher affinity for oxygen compared to low-altitude geese, which has been attributed to a single amino acid point mutation. This mutation of Bar-headed goose causes a conformational shift in the haemoglobin molecule from the low oxygen affinity form to the high oxygen affinity form. The left-ventricle of Bar-headed goose of the heart, which is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the body via systemic circulation, has significantly more capillaries in bar-headed geese compared with lowland birds, maintaining oxygenation of cardiac muscle cells and thereby cardiac output. Compared to lowland birds, mitochondria in the flight muscle of bar-headed geese are significantly closer to the sarcolemma, decreasing the intracellular diffusion distance of oxygen from the capillaries to the mitochondria of Bar-headed goose. ![]() The summer habitat of Bar-headed goose is high-altitude lakes where the bird grazes on short grass. The species has been reported as migrating south from Tibet, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia before crossing the Himalaya. Bar-Headed Goose as the World highest Flying Bird Bar-headed goose is one of the world's highest-flying birds, having been heard flying across Mount Makalu - the fifth highest mountain on earth at 8,481 meters and apparently seen over Mount Everest 8,848 m. Migration of Bar-Headed Goose ![]() Nestlings of Bar-Headed Goose Bar-headed goose nest mainly on the Tibetan Plateau. Intra-specific brood parasitism is noticed with lower rank females attempting to lay their eggs in the nests of higher ranking females. The bar-headed goose is often kept in captivity, as it is considered beautiful and breeds readily. |
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