🐾 Moose

Moose

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Who it is

• Scientific name: Alces alces
• Family & relatives: A member of the deer family (Cervidae); closest kin include elk, red deer, and reindeer.
• How to spot it: Look for a towering dark-brown body, a long drooping snout, a dangling throat flap called a bell, and (on bulls) broad flat antlers.

Its body & abilities

• Size: Shoulder height reaches about 1.4 to 2.1 m (4.6 to 6.9 ft), with antlers spanning up to 1.8 m (6 ft) across.
• Weight: Bulls weigh roughly 380 to 700 kg (840 to 1,540 lb); cows are smaller.
• Body & adaptations: Long legs let it wade through deep snow and water, and a specialized nose can pinch shut to keep water out while feeding underwater.
• Top speed: It can run up to about 56 km/h (35 mph) and swim steadily for long distances.
• Strength: A powerful swimmer, it can dive several meters down and hold its breath to reach underwater plants.
• Senses: Hearing and smell are excellent, but eyesight is poor, so it relies on its ears and nose to sense danger.
• Growing up: A single calf (sometimes twins) is born in spring, stands within a day, and stays with its mother for about a year.

Where it lives

• Habitat: It lives in cold northern forests near lakes, rivers, and marshy wetlands.
• Where in the world: Found across Canada, Alaska, the northern United States, Scandinavia, and Russia.
• Territory: Home ranges vary widely with the seasons and food supply, often several square kilometers.

What it eats

• Diet: A plant-eater (herbivore) that browses leaves, twigs, bark, and aquatic plants and drinks from lakes and streams.
• Favorite foods: Favorites include willow and birch shoots, pond lilies, and other water plants in summer.
• How it hunts: It forages by browsing at head height and wading into water to pull up submerged plants.

How it behaves

• How it moves: It walks and trots on long legs and is a strong, buoyant swimmer.
• When it is active: Most active around dawn and dusk (crepuscular), feeding several times a day.
• Family life: Largely solitary; there is no special herd name because they rarely gather in groups.
• How it talks: Bulls grunt and cows wail during the fall breeding season, and both use body posture to signal mood.
• Babies: Mating happens in autumn (the rut); after about eight months of pregnancy, calves are born in late spring.

Its place in nature

• Role in nature: It shapes forests by browsing and is prey for wolves and bears, especially the young and old.
• Conservation: Listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, though warming climate, ticks, and habitat loss stress some populations.
• Dangers: Wolves, bears, harsh winters, parasites like ticks, and vehicle collisions are leading causes of death.

Life & legacy

• How long it lives: Lives about 15 to 25 years in the wild.
• In our culture: A proud symbol of the northern wilderness, the moose appears on emblems and logos across Canada and Scandinavia.
• Where to see it: Spot them around lakes and marshes in places like Alaska, Maine, and Sweden, often at dawn.
• Fun fact: A moose can dive more than 5 m (16 ft) underwater to reach tasty plants on the lake bottom.