Lemon the Duck

African geese are massive birds (20 -30lb) with the same coloration as the brown Chinas although a little washed out in color.In the early 1800s the East India shipping co. had a large port in India. India, under British rule at the time had many trading ports. It was a regular occurrence that animals were brought from China into India. Far away from home, the British would also bring animals from their homeland to raise and give a sense of "home" to the settlements. It is in these settlements that I believe is where the Toulouse (common farm yard geese of Europe) and the China geese came together. The offspring of the Toulouse interbreeding with the China gave rise to the "African," although this is not the exhibition African that we know today. Toulouse carry the dewlap gene which was passed on to the crossed offspring.  The feather furrowing and large size of the European Toulouse was also passed on. The China geese passed on the knob, color markings and the lean muscle. Before the development of the African breed, this hybrid goose was used as a utility goose for meat and eggs in and around the ports of India. It wasn't until it arrived in the US aboard a Russell & co. trade ship that the breed caught on and was developed. The early versions of the African looked like fat Brown China geese, with a very underdeveloped dewlap. Breeders selected large birds with dewlaps and bred them. The intense breeding of these birds, with these traits, eventually led us to the massive Dewlap African that we know today.The cross of the China and Toulouse was still used in India, China and Southeast Asia. These birds were strictly utility birds and never bred for any type of standard. These crosses are recognized with the name Landes geese and are still bred today around the world. Now, Hatchery Africans fall into the Landes category. This is because large hatcheries seldom selective breed. This means that even if the breeding program started out with large exhibition Africans, the lack of selective breeding would eventually lead to the break down of the breed. This would cause the Africans to take on the appearance of the Landes goose, which is what a Toulouse/Brown China X would look like. Although, because they started out with two African lines, they maintain the coloration of the Brown China which is sometimes lost in the cross. In countries where this cross is still used, the offspring more closely resemble the production Toulouse. These geese still carry the genes of both China and Toulouse.