Wildlife Photographer Films Swans' Mesmerizing Territorial Dance

A pair of swans treated a wildlife photographer to an elegant show at a water reserve in England recently.

Footage taken by Vikki Lovett at Rutland Water Nature Reserve in Oakham shows the pair partaking in a real-life version of Swan Lake as they spin gracefully in unison.

“They were doing this for hours,” Lovett said. “I knew it was something special when I watched them.”

Lovett posted a sped-up version of the two mesmerizing swans to her TikTok account.

She told Storyful, “At first I thought this was two swans performing a courtship dance but later found out it’s two males protecting their boundaries/territories.”

The intriguing behavior has been studied, and found to be a type of nonviolent territorial defense strategy used in the nesting season. Credit: Vikki Lovett via Storyful

Video transcript

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