In 1994, the department of Ethology at Osnabrück University, under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Hans-Heiner Bergmann, started research on White-fronted and Bean (Anser fabalis) Geese. Prof. Bergmann had done a lot of research on the Brent Goose (Branta bernicla) and had published a book about this species in 1994.
In 1997, Prof. Bergmann and co-workers decided to start a colour-marking project on the White-fronted Goose in order to study individual behaviour, migration and breeding biology. Since 1998 there has been a close partnership with Dr. B. S. Ebbinge at Alterra, a Dutch environmental-research institute. Alterra cooperates with traditional Dutch goose-catchers. In this way, many geese have been marked.