The discovery in 1697 of the Australian Black Swan turned all that on its ... Even today the Queen has the right to claim any unmarked mute swan swimming in open water. The Mute Swan – the ...

The whooper swan, like its onomatopoeic cousins, the whistling and the trumpeter, belongs to an elegant society of sisters; the mute, Bewick's, black, and black-necked fill out the ranks.

Tell it apart from native tundra and trumpeter swans by its orange bill with a black knob. Mute swans have a big appetite—one study found that they can eat up to 8 pounds of food per day!