Comparative Development in Captive and Migratory Populations of the Barnacle Goose

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Abstract
The development of the locomotory muscles and associated skeletal structures of goslings and adults from a captive population of barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis) was compared with that from a wild migratory population. There was no significant difference between flight‐muscle development of wild and captive goslings up to 7 wk of age, when the birds are first able to fly. In contrast, mass‐specific citrate‐synthase activity in the semimembranosus leg muscle of the captive goslings was significantly lower than that of wild goslings by 5 wk of age. During the postfledging premigratory period, captive geese showed significantly higher values for both mass and mass‐specific citrate‐synthase activity of the leg muscles than those of wild birds. Premigratory wild geese had significantly higher citrate‐synthase activity in the pectoralis muscles and larger cardiac ventricular mass (by ca. 20%–25%) than both wild postmoulting and captive premigratory adults. Total flight‐muscle mass was only slightly reduced (by ca. 10%) in long‐term captive adults compared with wild premigratory adults. Most of the differences between these two populations appear primarily to reflect their relative levels of activity and/or differences in their ambient environment, rather than any intrinsic differences in developmental or adult physiology.

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