China’s Anserine Army

An unlikely force of 500 geese standing ready to honk and bite at unauthorized entrants into China from Vietnam. Since October the geese police have been patrolling 300 miles of Chongzuo Prefecture along the border.

Reinforcing this anserine army are some 300 mixed-breed guard dogs, which accompany human border police on moving patrols while the geese stay stationary and vigilant.

The Chinese government tested a deployment of the geese in June 2021, National Geographic reports. Apparently the geese were even more sensitive to strangers’ approach than were the dogs; a few months later the big birds were deployed along 300 border checkpoints.

Chinese domestic geese come battle-ready. Unlike the dogs, the five-pound birds need no training, so once they’ve established their territory they defend it noisily. In December a goose raised a ruckus that helped nab two people attempting to enter the country illegally.

Geese are more selective than dogs when it comes to making noise. “Dogs can sound the alarm sometimes just for fun or to talk together from dog to dog,” says Petr Glazov, chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Goose Specialist Group. “But geese will only do so if there’s an intruder that goes into their special area.”

These birds have great eyesight and can control each eye separately, giving them a wider view of their domain. Even when asleep, geese keep one side of the brain awake with the eye connected to it open — a rare phenomenon known as unihemispheric slow wave sleep. “They are always in control of the situation,” Glazov says.

Watch the geese police in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7qXWIxxd4I.

Photo credit: Chen Qiuxia