beware of the geese!

we were at botanic garden's eco pond admiring the black swans, when my friend tye thong reminisced about his encounter with the geese during his kampong days, more than fifty years ago.

those days, most families, besides growing some crops like sugar-cane, tapoica and sweet potatoes, also reared poultry like chicken, ducks and geese. the goose was not as popular as the other two birds. geese are, however, quite intimidating - they still are - as they were bigger and nosier. they seemed to be more aggressive too. because of their size, their bite can be quite painful.

in our impoverished state then, as small children, we often went about minus our clothes. totally naked, we were not shy about moving around, with mucus streaming from our nostrils. we did not feel embarrassed because practically every child in the village (kampong) was doing it.

but, we were scared of the geese. a gaggle of geese would go about foraging for food. they fed on grass and whatever crumbs they could find lying around. sometimes, they would go to the stream and its banks to forage for worms. so, when they saw this worm dangling from the front of the child, they would not hesitate to attack the 'worm'.

geese can live up to 20 over years, provided they do not end up on the dining table. obese geese tend to have a shorter life span. you can tell the sex of a goose by the size of the knob on its head. the one with a more prominent knob is a male. when they are babies, goslings can be mistaken for ducklings as they are similar in look.