The common domestic geese are derived from two wild species, the greylag, Anser anser, and the swan goose, Anser cygnoides. The wild greylag is found seasonally throughout most of Eurasia and North Africa, although it is not known to breed south of 45° latitude. The swan goose is confined to East Asia, although the two can freely hybridize at the meeting point of their ranges. It has been argued that the Indian barheaded goose, Anser indicus, also played a part in the evolution of domestic geese, because it is interfertile with the aforementioned species (Crawford 1984).

Geese are easily domesticated, and this process probably occurred numerous times. Moreover, the continuing presence of the greylag suggests that there was constant introgression from the wild form, accounting for Charles Darwin’s observation that “the amount of variation that it has undergone, as compared with that of most domesticated animals, is singularly small’ (cited in Crawford 1984: 345).

Other species of geese have been domesticated on an experimental basis in ancient or modern times. These are:

Canada goose Branta canadensis

White-fronted goose Anser albifrons

Egyptian goose Alopochen aegyptiaca

Spur-winged goose Plectopterus gambensis

However, none of these birds have attained commercial importance.

Despite their distribution, domestic geese are poorly documented across their range, especially the Chinese swan goose, which is virtually absent from all discussions of Chinese animal husbandry. Geese bones, due to their greater size and fragility, are often more comminuted in archaeological deposits than those of chickens and small game birds. Nonetheless, the lack of reports of goose bones from archaeological sites may reflect more the prejudices of archaeology than a real absence.