Will Black Swan Find a Mate Next Year?

Since the Cob black swan died a couple of months ago many people have been asking us if the female will find another partner for next year. We have asked for advice from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and this is what they say:

“This is a tricky query, and one to which I’m afraid I don’t have a definitive answer. There is a school of thought that says all swans (including Black Swans) mate for life and should one partner be killed, the other won’t mate again. The feeling amongst my BTO colleagues is that this is something of a myth, even though websites like Wikipedia state the opposite view http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Swan.

Personally, I suspect the female will look for a new partner and (assuming she has no choice) may end up pairing with one of her offspring. In wild animals, the risks of inbreeding are outweighed by the urge to reproduce (which, incidentally, is why species that get near to extinction remain at risk in the future, even if they are protected and their population recovers).

As for “legally finding a replacement”, if the person who asked this means buying in a male from a bird collection somewhere else in the country, I’m afraid that’s out of our area of expertise. I would suggest leaving things as they are and letting nature take its course, even though the possibility of inbreeding would be unacceptable by human standards.”

Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
BTO