The moose in a nutshell

  Main figures  

• General facts
  • Largest member of the deer family
  • Bulls can reach a weight of up to 825kg (500-825kg)
  • Shoulder height up to 250 cm (160-250 cm)
  • Body length up to 350 cm (250-350 cm)
  • Cows are in average 20% smaller and lighter than bulls
• Some details
  • Very short tail (7-12 cm)
  • Long-legded to step over obstacles - important to escape predators
  • Hump at the shoulders - mainly muscles to hold the head
  • Overhanging muzzle - the moose's trademark - perfect for feeding foliage - also called "muffle" - maybe originating from the German "Muffel"
  • Hair and skin hanging from the throat - called bell - serves mating season purposes
  • Usually brownish-black, differences between species and season, European moose with white legs
  • Long, air-filled coat hair - 10-25 cm long, changed April-June
  • Life span of 27 years in captivity, 5-16 years in nature
  • Spends time with 40% chewing cud, 40% eating and 20% sleep
• Senses
  • 25 cm long, rotatable ears give excellent hearing sense
  • Important nosing sense with special area for analyzing the cows readiness for mating
  • Not so developped eyes, no red-green differentiation, but fairly good in darkness

  Food   

• General facts
  • Herbivore, i.e. plant eater
  • Ruminant
  • Can eat 15-50kg per day
  • Feeding up to 10-12 hours a day
  • "Browser", as they browse on twigs
• Food range
  • Twig ends, leaf, roots, bark
  • Preferably willows, but also white birch, balsam fir, trembling aspen, black poplar, hazle, dogwood, maple
  • Berries, apples, wildflowers, lichens, bushes, seeds, ferns, mushrooms, tubers, sedges and grass
  • Aquatic vegetation: Water lily, water shield, pondweed
• Some more details
  • Can eat under-water due to their specialized muzzle, dive up to 6 m deep
  • Needs minerals- salt licks, aquatic vegetation ...
  • Have big liver to cope with toxic secondary plant compounds
  • Bulls don't feed during mating time

  Antlers   

• Main Facts
  • The antlers - reserved to bulls - are up to 2,1m wide
  • Up to 36kg heavy
  • Up to 15 ends
  • Size varies depending on habitat: European smaller and Northern larger than Southern
• Growth
  • During growth covered with a soft skin called velvet
  • Shed every year in mid December
  • New antlers start growing in April, maximum size August/September
• Fight, Sparring and mating
  • Symbol off power - important for mating- the biggest antlers win by visual show
  • Seldomly in real fight, but if it occurs mostly uncritical wounds occur
  • Sparring is common between bulls before the real "show-down"

  Mating and offspring  

• Breeding season September/October, about 3-5 weeks
• Oligatory signals (e.g. urine on bell) and calls are used for finding each other
• Mating "event" takes just 2-5 seconds
• Gestation period ~231 days, Birth in May/June
• 1-2 offspring, depending on the mother's age and food supply
• Calves eat huge amounts of rich mother milk, and very fast also normal food
• Fully protected by very defensive mother
• Calves can run and swim within just a few days
• Calves weigh 120-200 kg already in autumn
• Time to offspring independance ~12 months
• Sexual maturity of male and femals ~ 2 years

  Mobility   

• Excellent swimmers
• Swims even out on oceans for kilometers and can be attacked by killer whales
• Can swim 10-20 km non-stop with up to 8 km/h
• Fast sprinters - up to 60 km/h
• No problems with rough surface with obstacles due to their long legs
• Mastering obstacles heights of 60-90cm and snow up to 50 cm -> Escape from predators !
• Usually walk slowly and calmy with 10 km/h
• Deep snow causes a real problem for them, as they cannot escape any more

  Name   

• "Moose" comes from Algonquin Indians, "mos" meaning twig-eaters
• Scientific name "Alces Alces"

 Habitat  

• Forested areas with lakes or ponds
• Taiga, forest tundra, temperate forest and rainforest, boreal and subarctic zones
• Zones with summer temperatures averaging 15 °C, not exceeding 27°C for long
• Approximate limits : 50th parallel to 67th parallel
• Home range of 10-250 km², depending on food supply
• Sub-species - classic science
  • 9 different sub-species, from which one is extinct
  • 4 sub-species in Eurasia, 4 in North-America
  • Differentiation by discoverer and area
• New viewpoint today: Only two real sub-species:
  • European/ West Siberian Moose (Alces Alces Alces)
  • East Siberian / North American Moose (Alces Alces Americanus)
  • Differentiation determined by environment

  Enemies and Defense   

• Enemies
  • Prey to bears and wolves, seldomly lynx and wolverine
  • Most threatened: Calves, only 2/3 survive their first year (prey/environment)
  • Wolve packs have good chance to win in deep snow and with old/ill moose
• Defense
  • Moose kick with front- and back-legs - leathal weapons
  • Mainly try to escape- good chance due to long legs (predators muts walk around obstacles)
  • Moose can surround enemies, hide, and perfectly detect them early enough
  • Seek roads and rails during snow-time: Faster escape in low snow
• Environmental and parasite related threats
  • Quite well suited for winter time, nevertheless hard time
  • Winter ticks, meningeal worm and giant liver fluke often cause death

  Human Interaction  

• Hunting was and is common: Moose was nearly extinct in many areas
• Today moose population seems stabilized by nature preserve
• Road and rail traffic causes many moose deaths, as animals seek trails in winter
• Domestication has been tried and works hardly well (diseases, food requirements)
• Tries have been performed to use moose as mounts for riding in armies
• Moose can get tame just as overdimensioned dogs