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As their necks reach down to find food, their backsides protrude above the surface of the water as they flail their legs, usually to rather humorous effect. This process, known as “upending,” is something that you will most often see them doing when feeding in deeper waters.
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If they need to, though, they will use their long necks to delve deep into a body of water to find the plants that they like. Like most animals, they like to conserve as much as they can, and needless consumption of calories, either from searching for food on land or dipping their heads beneath the water, can make it difficult to maintain their ideal body temperature. Swans prefer to eat food that is resting on the top of the water, hence their propensity for consuming algae. Since they don’t have particularly large stomachs, they most feed consistently to keep themselves well nourished. This means the swan must expend more energy to get to and process their food.įurthermore, they don’t get much in the way of energy out of each bit of food they digest. Raw, green vegetation is difficult to digest due to the high amounts of cellulose that it contains.
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Swans aren’t the type of creature to overeat, so they will graze for a period and return to their trusted food source several times in one day rather than consume one gigantic meal.ĭue to their dependence on vegetation, swans must eat more constantly than animals that consume mostly meat. This equates to about 20-25% of their total body weight each day (about 4-7 pounds’ worth of food). On average, swans weigh anywhere from 20-27 pounds and will eat enough to support their mass and body temperature of 106 degrees. Normally, swans will eat whenever they need nutrients, during the day. When eating on land, Swans can graze on short-cropped grass, and will sometimes take to potatoes, lettuce, and other field vegetation to supplement their diet. Interesting to note is that female swans will generally ingest greater quantities of pondweed than males and less waterweed. However, since there are often smaller animals nearby this vegetation, their diet also consists of small amounts various creatures that may be in the vicinity while they feed, such as: They are primarily herbivores, and will thus feast on all manner of aquatic vegetation. As stated above, Swans usually eat on the water.