Moose
The moose (Alces alces), called the elk in Europe, is the largest member of the deer family. Bulls stand up to 2.1 meters at the shoulder and usually weigh 380 to 700 kilograms, and the heaviest on record reached 820 kilograms. Only males grow antlers, broad and palmate, which in large Alaskan bulls can span more than 1.8 meters and are shed and regrown every year. Their long legs are built for wading through deep snow and standing in rivers, and they are strong swimmers. Moose browse on willows, birches, aspens and water plants, often plunging their heads fully underwater to reach the best growth. They live across the boreal forests of North America, northern Europe and northern Asia, always favoring areas close to lakes, rivers or marshes. They live alone for most of the year and are most active around dawn and dusk. Despite their unhurried look, moose can charge without much warning and should always be given plenty of space.
Moose or elk? Why the same animal has two names
The moose and the European elk are the same animal, Alces alces. In Britain and the rest of Europe the English name has always been elk, a word with the same root as the German Elch and the Swedish รคlg. When English settlers reached North America they used elk for a different animal, the wapiti (Cervus canadensis), a large deer with branched antlers, and took the word moose from the Algonquian languages of New England, where it is usually explained as meaning the one who strips bark or eats twigs. That is why searches for elk and moose get mixed up: an elk in Sweden is a moose, while an elk in Yellowstone is a wapiti, a smaller animal that lives in herds and has no palm on its antlers. Scientists avoid the confusion by using the Latin name, which comes from the word Julius Caesar and Pliny used for the animal in the forests of Germania.
How big is a moose?
The moose is the largest and heaviest deer alive. Adults stand 1.4 to 2.1 meters at the shoulder, and a big bull's head and antlers rise well above the height of a tall person. Bulls usually weigh 380 to 700 kilograms and cows 200 to 490 kilograms. Size changes a lot across the range: the Alaska moose of Alaska and the Yukon is the biggest subspecies, while moose in the south of Europe and in Manchuria are noticeably smaller. The heaviest moose ever confirmed was a bull shot by the Yukon River in September 1897 that weighed 820 kilograms and stood 2.33 meters at the shoulder. Most of that height comes from the legs, which can measure more than a meter, and from the hump of muscle over the shoulders. Calves weigh about 13 to 16 kilograms at birth and can gain more than a kilogram a day during their first summer.
Where are moose found?
Moose are creatures of the north, living across the boreal and mixed forests of North America, northern Europe and northern Asia. In North America they range from Alaska across Canada to Newfoundland, where they were introduced in 1904 and now number in the tens of thousands, and south into the northern United States: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, the Adirondacks of New York, Minnesota, Michigan and the northern Rocky Mountains. In Europe the core is Scandinavia, Finland, the Baltic states, Poland, Belarus and Ukraine, with a tiny population in the Czech ล umava. From there the range runs east across Russia and Siberia to northern Kazakhstan, Mongolia and northeastern China. Within these forests, moose gravitate toward water. Lakes, rivers, marshes and beaver ponds give them the aquatic plants they rely on in summer, while young regrowing forest after fires or logging offers food and cover through winter.
What do moose eat?
Few large animals eat such a wide variety of plant types as the moose does. In spring and summer, aquatic vegetation takes center stage. Moose wade into lakes and rivers to reach pondweed, water lilies and other plants growing below the surface, sometimes submerging their entire head to pull up roots and stems rich in sodium. On land, willow and birch dominate their diet throughout the warmer months, along with aspen, maple and various shrubs. As winter sets in and green growth disappears, moose shift to browsing on twigs, bark and the lower branches of conifers. An adult needs to consume around 20 to 30 kilograms of vegetation every day to meet its energy needs. Their long legs and flexible upper lip help them strip bark and reach branches well above the ground.
Moose antlers: how big they get and why they fall off
Among all living deer, the moose carries the most impressive headgear. Only bulls grow antlers, and they are not horns: horns are permanent, while antlers are bone that grows new every year. Growth starts in spring under a soft, blood-rich skin called velvet and can add more than two centimeters a day, one of the fastest tissue growth rates of any mammal. By late summer the antlers harden, the bull rubs off the velvet, and he is ready for the autumn rut. The shape is broad and flat, called palmate, with a row of points along the outer edge. A large bull's antlers usually span 1.2 to 1.8 meters and can weigh around 20 to 30 kilograms. The widest set on record, 204.8 centimeters, came from a bull on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula in 1958. After the rut, bulls shed their antlers, usually between November and January, and the cycle begins again. Young bulls grow small, simple antlers that get bigger each year until the animal reaches its prime.
Behavior and temperament
For most of the year, moose live alone. They are not territorial in the strict sense, but adults tend to use familiar home ranges and rarely seek the company of others outside of the breeding season. Activity peaks around dawn and dusk, with long rest periods in between. During the autumn rut, bulls become vocal and aggressive, producing deep grunting calls and competing with rivals through displays and, occasionally, direct clashes of antlers. Cows with young calves are among the most dangerous moose to approach, as they will charge with very little warning to protect their offspring. Despite their slow, almost lumbering appearance, moose can run at speeds of up to 56 kilometers per hour over short distances. Alaska's wildlife agency notes that moose injure more people there each year than bears do, so visitors to moose country should keep a generous distance and never stand between a cow and her calf.
Swimming ability
Water holds a special place in the life of a moose. These animals take to lakes and rivers with surprising ease, using their long legs to wade through shallows and their powerful bodies to push through deeper water. Moose are strong swimmers and have been recorded crossing open water stretches of several kilometers without difficulty. Their hollow outer hairs trap air and help with buoyancy, making long swims less demanding. In summer, moose spend considerable time in the water, partly to feed on aquatic plants and partly to escape the biting insects that gather in the forest. They can dive to reach vegetation growing on lake beds, briefly submerging to pull up plants from below. For a land animal of this size, the ease with which a moose moves through water is quite remarkable.
Are moose endangered?
No. The IUCN classifies the moose as Least Concern, and the global population is large: about one million in North America in the mid 2010s, with roughly 500,000 to 1,000,000 in Canada and around 200,000 in Alaska, and well over a million more across Europe and Asia, where Russia alone holds close to a million. The species has also made a remarkable comeback in parts of Europe. In Poland only a few dozen survived the Second World War in the Biebrza Marshes; protection and a hunting moratorium in place since 2001 brought numbers back to tens of thousands. Even so, some regional populations are in real trouble. In the northeastern United States, warmer and shorter winters let winter ticks multiply, and a single moose can carry tens of thousands of them, which kills many calves. In Minnesota, the northwestern population almost vanished and the northeastern one fell sharply in the 2000s. In the Czech Republic only about 15 animals remain, isolated at the southwestern edge of the range. Climate change is considered the biggest long term threat, because it shrinks the cold habitat moose need and spreads the parasites and diseases that affect them.
Where it is found
The Moose can be found in places such as:
