In earlier times people in the Northern Hemisphere had only ever seen white Mute swans and were unaware that swans could be black.

Willem de Vlamingh (a Dutch navigator) arrived in Western Australia in 1697 and was astounded by what he saw.

Black swans are also part of Maori legend and DNA shows that the early New Zealand species were much larger than Australia's birds.

Black swans were introduced into zoos and private collections in the UK in the late 1700's, but escapees have since formed large breeding colonies and like feral and introduced species everywhere, there's a worry that they'll eventually have a negative impact on the environment.

Black swans can be aggressive toward humans when breeding and raising young, and interbreeding with Britain's Mute swans could be a potential problem.

It seems not all Aussies are popular in Britain!