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The nene (Branta sandvicensis), also known as the nēnē or the Hawaiian goose, is a species of bird endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. The nene is exclusively found in the wild on the islands of Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Molokai, and Hawaii. In 1957, it was designated as the official state bird of the state of Hawaii. The Hawaiian name nēnē comes from its soft call. The specific name sandvicensis refers to the Sandwich Islands, a former name for the Hawaiian Islands. The holotype specimen of Anser sandvicensis Vigors (List Anim. Garden Zool. Soc., ed.3, June 1833, p.4.) is held in the vertebrate zoology collection at World Museum, National Museums Liverpool, with accession number NML-VZ T12706. The specimen was collected from the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands) and came to the Liverpool national collection via the Museum of the Zoological Society of London collection, Thomas Campbell Eyton’s collection, and Henry Baker Tristram’s collection. It is thought that the nene evolved from the Canada goose (Branta canadensis), which most likely arrived on the Hawaiian islands about 500,000 years ago, shortly after the island of Hawaii was formed. This ancestor is the progenitor of the nene as well as the prehistoric giant Hawaii goose (Branta rhuax) and nēnē-nui (Branta hylobadistes). The nēnē-nui was larger than the nene, varied from flightless to flighted depending on the individual, and inhabited the island of Maui. Similar fossil geese found on Oahu and Kauai may be of the same species. The giant Hawaii goose was restricted to the island of Hawaii and measured in length with a mass of , making it more than four times larger than the nene. It is believed that the herbivorous giant Hawaii goose occupied the same ecological niche as the goose-like ducks known as moa-nalo, which were not present on the Big Island. Based on mitochondrial DNA found in fossils, all Hawaiian geese, living and extinct, are closely related to the giant Canada goose (B. c. maxima) and dusky Canada goose (B. c. occidentalis). The nene is a large-sized goose at tall.

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Related concepts (8)

Nene (bird)

Anatidae

The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating on the water surface, and in some cases diving in at least shallow water. The family contains around 174 species in 43 genera. (The magpie goose is no longer considered to be part of the Anatidae and is now placed in its own family, Anseranatidae.

Mauna Kea

Mauna Kea (ˌmO:nə_ˈkeɪə or ˌmaʊnə_ˈkeɪə; ˈmɐwnə ˈkɛə; abbreviation for Mauna a Wākea) is an inactive volcano on the island of Hawaii. Its peak is above sea level, making it the highest point in the state of Hawaii and second-highest peak of an island on Earth. The peak is about higher than Mauna Loa, its more massive neighbor. Mauna Kea is unusually topographically prominent for its height: its wet prominence is fifteenth in the world among mountains, at ; its dry prominence is .