Magpie Goose

The Magpie Goose, the only extant species of the family Anseranatidae, is a distinctive waterbird that calls northern Australia and southern New Guinea its home. Classified under the order Anseriformes, which includes ducks, geese, and swans, this family is unique and seen as an early offshoot in the evolutionary lineage of waterfowl. Notably, the magpie goose split from screamers before the divergence of all other ducks, geese, and swans. Regarded as a "living fossil," the Anseranatidae appear to have branched out before the major Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, around 68–67 million years ago, as suggested by the ancient relative Vegavis iaai. Although there are few fossils, some like the enigmatic Anatalavis and possibly Anserpica, indicate that this family once had a global presence in the late Paleogene. Eoanseranas handae, found in Oligocene-age fossils in Queensland, is the earliest documented member of this group in Australia, and further fossils in North America and Europe imply that the family had a wide distribution historically.