Mario (goose)

Last updated

Mario was a male [1] Toulouse goose (Anser anser), formerly living in Echo Park, Los Angeles who became the subject of news reports in 2011 after forming an unusual association with a local resident, Dominic Ehrler.

Contents

Mario, who was originally named Maria by locals and assumed to be female, was familiar to users of the park for several years as a goose which preferred the company of humans to that of his own species, often pecking at homeless people or following walkers and runners around. [2]

Ehrler, a retired salesman, first encountered Maria/Mario at Echo Park Lake in the summer of 2010 when the bird began to follow him on his daily walks around the lake, readily accepting food from him and soon becoming so attached that he would wait beside the road every morning for Ehrler to arrive at the park. Maria/Mario would walk alongside and possessively 'protect' Ehrler from other park users and their dogs and would also attempt to follow him from the park, flying closely behind him as he rode away on his scooter, necessitating attempts to distract the goose, or lock him behind a fence when leaving, to avoid being followed all the way home. [3] [4] [5]

Maria/Mario, along with the other geese present at Echo Park were temporarily relocated to Los Angeles Zoo in April 2011 and placed into quarantine, as the park underwent restoration and the lake was drained. It was at this time that veterinarians at the zoo discovered that Maria was in fact a male goose (a gander). [4] He was then renamed Mario. Zoo officials stated their plans to house Mario at a children's zoo, [1] though it was also suggested that the Echo Park geese would be relocated to another lake. Ehrler continued to visit Mario at the zoo and stated his intention to maintain the friendship and follow the gander to his new home, [4] also raising the possibility of moving to Oregon with him. [2] Later, plans were put forward to have Mario live at the zoo after the Echo Park lake refurbishing was completed, as it was a safer place for him to live. [6]

Mario also appeared in the 2010 music video for the song "End Love" by the rock band OK Go, which has received over 15 million views on YouTube, [4] the band having allowed Mario to appear prominently in the video after he bit guitarist Andy Ross during filming at the park. [2]

Mario died on Friday, June 29, 2018, at his home at the LA Zoo. He died in his sleep from old age. The zoo released a statement saying, "The Los Angeles Zoo is sad to announce the passing of the celebrity, domestic Toulouse goose, Mario. The nine-year-old goose resided at the Winnick Family Children's Zoo for the last seven years until his passing on Friday, June 29 due to old age. Mario was an animal that brought joy to many Angelenos, and he will be missed." [7] [8] [9]

In 2020, the podcast This is Love released an episode about city birds, including Maria/Mario's story, as told by Dominic Ehrler. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goose</span> Common name for a group of waterfowl

A goose is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera Anser and Branta. Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily are commonly called geese, but are not considered "true geese" taxonomically. More distantly related members of the family Anatidae are swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller.

<i>Fly Away Home</i> 1996 film by Carroll Ballard

Fly Away Home is a 1996 family adventure drama film directed by Carroll Ballard. The film stars Anna Paquin, Jeff Daniels, and Dana Delany. Fly Away Home was released on September 13, 1996, by Columbia Pictures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greylag goose</span> Species of bird

The greylag goose or graylag goose is a species of large goose in the waterfowl family Anatidae and the type species of the genus Anser. It has mottled and barred grey and white plumage and an orange beak and pink legs. A large bird, it measures between 74 and 91 centimetres in length, with an average weight of 3.3 kilograms. Its distribution is widespread, with birds from the north of its range in Europe and Asia often migrating southwards to spend the winter in warmer places, although many populations are resident, even in the north. It is the ancestor of most breeds of domestic goose, having been domesticated at least as early as 1360 BCE. The genus name and specific epithet are from anser, the Latin for "goose".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lesser white-fronted goose</span> Species of bird

The lesser white-fronted goose is a goose closely related to the larger greater white-fronted goose. It breeds in the northernmost Palearctic, but it is a scarce breeder in Europe, with a reintroduction attempt in Fennoscandia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bar-headed goose</span> Species of bird

The bar-headed goose is a goose that breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest. It is known for the extreme altitudes it reaches when migrating across the Himalayas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-breasted goose</span> Species of bird

The red-breasted goose is a brightly marked species of goose in the genus Branta from Eurasia. It is currently classified as vulnerable by the IUCN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada goose</span> Species of goose native to the Northern Hemisphere

The Canada goose, sometimes called Canadian goose, is a large wild goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North America, and it is occasionally found during migration across the Atlantic in northern Europe. It has been introduced to France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Japan, Chile, Argentina, and the Falkland Islands. Like most geese, the Canada goose is primarily herbivorous and normally migratory; often found on or close to fresh water, the Canada goose is also common in brackish marshes, estuaries, and lagoons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emperor goose</span> Species of bird

The emperor goose, also known as the beach goose or the painted goose, is a waterfowl species in the family Anatidae, which contains the ducks, geese, and swans. In summer, the emperor goose is found in remote coastal areas near the Bering Sea in arctic and sub-arctic Alaska and the Russian Far East, where it breeds in monogamous pairs. It migrates south to winter in ice-free mudflats and coasts in Alaska, mostly the Aleutian Islands, and Canada's British Columbia, rarely reaching the contiguous United States. Listed as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the species' population is declining due to threats such as pollution, hunting, and climate change.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Barren goose</span> Species of bird

The Cape Barren goose, sometimes also known as the pig goose, is a species of goose endemic to southern Australia. It is a distinctive large, grey bird that is mostly terrestrial and is not closely related to other extant members of the subfamily Anserinae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Echo Park</span> Neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, US

Echo Park is a neighborhood in the east-central region of Los Angeles, California. Located to the northwest of Downtown, it is bordered by Silver Lake to the west and Chinatown to the east. The culturally diverse neighborhood has become known for its trendy local businesses, as well as its popularity with artists, musicians and creatives. The neighborhood is centered on the eponymous Echo Park Lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spur-winged goose</span> Species of bird

The spur-winged goose is a large, Sub-Saharan African waterbird in the family Anatidae, which includes geese and shelducks. However, P. gambensis developed unique environmental adaptations, which resulted in the evolution of several anatomical features that are not shared with other anatids; thus, the species has been classified one step further into its own subfamily, the Plectropterinae.

William Lishman was a Canadian sculptor, filmmaker, inventor, naturalist and public speaker, president of William Lishman & Associates Limited, Vice President of Paula Lishman Limited and Chair Emeritus of Operation Migration Inc. Described by the Toronto Star as a "dyslexic, colour-blind, wildly creative sculptor", he died less than two weeks after being diagnosed with leukemia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamsa (bird)</span> Species of aquatic bird mentioned in ancient Indian texts

The haṃsa is an aquatic migratory bird, referred to in ancient Sanskrit texts which various scholars have interpreted as being based on the goose, the swan, or even the flamingo. Its image is used in Indian and Southeast Asian culture as a spiritual symbol and a decorative element. It is also used in a metaphorical sense with the bird attributed with the mythical ability to extract milk from a mixture of milk and water or good from evil. In Hindu iconography, hamsa is the vahana of Brahma, Gayatri, Saraswati, and Vishvakarma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domestic goose</span> Common name for a bird

A domestic goose is a goose that humans have domesticated and kept for their meat, eggs, or down feathers. Domestic geese have been derived through selective breeding from the wild greylag goose and swan goose.

<i>The Wonderful Adventures of Nils</i> (TV series) Television series

The wonderful Adventures of Nils is an anime adaptation of the 1906 novel The Wonderful Adventures of Nils by the Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf. The 52 episode series ran on the Japanese network NHK from January 1980 to March 1981. The series was the first production by Pierrot. The anime was mostly true to the original, apart from the appearance of Nils's pet hamster, and the larger role given to Smirre the fox. The music was written by Czech composer Karel Svoboda; Yukihide Takekawa provided the soundtrack for its original Japanese broadcast and for some other countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goose pulling</span> Blood sport

Goose pulling was a blood sport practiced in parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, England, and North America from the 17th to the 19th centuries. It originated in the 12th century in Spain and was spread around Europe by the Spanish Third. The sport involved fastening a live goose with a well-greased head to a rope or pole that was stretched across a road. A man riding on horseback at a full gallop would attempt to grab the bird by the neck in order to pull the head off. Sometimes a live hare was substituted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">End Love</span> 2010 single by OK Go

"End Love" is a song by alternative rock band OK Go from the album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. The song's lyrics deal with the sorrowful period of time after the end of a relationship. The video for the song features the band performing over a continuous 18-hour shot along with nearly 200 hours of additional footage, with both time-lapse compression and expansion used to condense the footage to a four-minute video.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geese in Chinese poetry</span>

Geese are an important motif in Chinese poetry. Examples of goose imagery have an important place in Chinese poetry ranging from the Shijing and the Chu Ci poets through the poets of Han poetry and later poets of Tang poetry such as Li Bai, Wang Wei, Du Fu, and the Xiaoxiang poetry, especially in the poetry of the Song dynastic era. Various poetic concepts could be communicated by the inclusion of the imagery of geese in a poem, and the understanding of allusions to a goose or geese can help provide key insights into the poems of Classical Chinese poetry. Chinese sources typically distinguish between two types of geese, the domestic goose, and the wild goose: of the two, the wild goose is the more important for poetry, whether as significant of migratory seasonal change, or as "bearing a message of love from afar", by persons separated by a great distance, or as the "lone goose", bereft of both mate and flock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Swan and the Goose</span> Aesops fable

The classical legend that the swan sings at death was incorporated into one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 399 in the Perry Index. The fable also introduces the proverbial antithesis between the swan and the goose that gave rise to such sayings as ‘Every man thinks his own geese are swans’, in reference to blind partiality, and 'All his swans are turned to geese', referring to a reverse of fortune.

References

  1. 1 2 Hartman, Steve. "Man-goose bond (and gender) put to the test". CBS Evening News. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 Berzon, Alexandra (12 February 2011). "'Maria, Maria, I've Just Met A Goose Named Maria...'". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
  3. ↑ Pool, Bob. "A match of man and goose". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Goose waits everyday for LA Man". Eyewitness News 9. Archived from the original on 2011-04-07.
  5. ↑ Hernandez, Lisa. "Man explains love for a goose in Echo Park". KABC-TV Los Angeles, CA. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  6. ↑ Berzon, Alexandra. "Los Angeles Zoo Welcomes Gander". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  7. ↑ "Remembering Mario". Archived from the original on 2018-07-14. Retrieved 2018-07-14.
  8. ↑ "Former Viral Sensation Mario the Goose Dies at LA Zoo". 17 July 2018.
  9. ↑ "RIP Mario - the most famous goose of Echo Park Lake". 16 July 2018.
  10. ↑ "City Birds". This is Love . June 24, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.