 All
About Moose
by
Murray LundbergDespite often-heard comments
about them having a face
only a mother could love, the
moose is one of the animals that
are most sought by wildlife
photographers, hunters, and
visitors to the North. As the
largest member of the deer
family, the title "Monarch of
the Forest" is very apt.
A bull moose can reach 1,400
pounds, and the subspecies
tundra moose Alces alces gigas,
found in Alaska, can be 1,800
pounds and 8½ feet long. Their
size doesn't limit their speed
at all - those long legs can
move a moose along at up to 35
miles per hour.
The moose, although relatively
common in the lightly-forested
regions of North America from
about 40° North Latitude to the
Arctic Circle, came across the
Bering Land Bridge from Asia
eons before humans followed, and
are now found in boreal forests
throughout the northern
hemisphere.
The moose's dense coat, seen in
the scan to the right, keeps it
warm at virtually any
temperature. In the winter,
temperatures above minus 5°
Celsius (23° F.) are quite
uncomfortably warm for them.
The antlers of the bulls, which
can grow to 70 inches across,
make thickly-forested areas
impassable for them. You may
hear the term "moose horns"
used, but that is incorrect -
antlers are made of bone and are
grown, shed and regrown yearly,
while horns are made of keratin
and keep growing year after
year.
If you've ever been on a tour
bus in Alaska, you've probably
heard that the "beard" that
hangs from a moose's throat is
called a "moosetache" - it's
actually called a bell or
dewlap, and nobody has
discovered what purpose it
serves.
A moose's diet varies
dramatically from season to
season, and not only the diet,
but sometimes the age and sex of
the animal, can be judged from
the scat. In the winter, when
much of their diet consists of
branches and other dry woody
materials, the scat is in pellet
form. In Alaska, these "moose
nuggets" are used in a variety
of crafts, even being varnished
and set in jewelry such as
earrings!
Moose are fiercely protective of
their young, which are born from
mid-May to early June after a
gestation period of about 230
days. Many people are injured or
killed each year when they
approach a cow with a calf or
calves too closely. The
occurrence of twins depends upon
range conditions, but can be up
to 75% of births. Triplets are
rare, only occurring about once
in 1,000 births.
The greatest enemies of the
moose, other than humans, are
wolves and bears (both black and
grizzly). In the Yukon River
Flats of central
Alaska, only about 30% of moose
calves survive their first year,
in the southwestern Yukon the
survival rate is 19%, and in
Denali National Park, the high
grizzly population reduces that
number to just over 11%.
Seeing a wolf pack kill a moose
is almost universally repulsive
to humans, even those who
recognize it as part of the
natural world. The size, power
and speed of a bull moose in
particular forces the pack to
use every possible aspect of the
situation to their advantage if
they are to be successful. Barry
Lopez, in his excellent book Of
Wolves and Men, describes a
kill:
The idea of wolves on the hunt
powerfully engages the human
imagination. The wolf spends
perhaps one-third of his life in
pursuit of food. It is a task
for which he evolved and to
which he is well suited. With
powerful jaw muscles he will
clamp down on a moose's bulbous
nose and hold on tenaciously
while the moose swings him clear
of the ground or stomps on him
in a vain effort to throw him
off.
...Wolves kill the largest
ungulates by running alongside
them, slashing at their hams,
ripping at their flanks and
abdomen, tearing at the nose and
head, harassing the animal until
it weakens enough through loss
of blood and the severing of
muscles to be thrown to the
ground. At this point the wolves
usually rip open the abdominal
cavity and begin eating,
sometimes before the animal is
dead. If the chase has been a
hard one, the wolves may rest
before eating anything.
Moose, however, seem to fare
quite well against wolves
statistically, for reasons that
are not completely understood.
The greatest success ratios by
wolves are with calves and older
moose with arthritic joints or
other health problems. Wildlife
biologist L. David Mech studied
wolf/moose interaction on Isle
Royale, Michigan, and found that
of 160 moose within hunting
range of a wolf pack:
- 29 were ignored,
- 11 discovered the wolves
first and eluded detection,
- 24 refused to run when
confronted and were left
alone.
Of the 96 that ran:
- 43 got away immediately,
- 34 were surrounded but
not harmed,
- 12 made successful
defensive stands,
- 7 were attacked,
- 6 were killed,
- 1 was wounded and
abandoned.
Moose are
the favorite game animal for
hunters in Alaska, and each
year 6-8,000 animals are
taken in the state. In all
areas where highways pass
through moose habitat, road
kills also take their toll.
Global warming is increasing
the danger of one of the
most serious health issues
for moose in the far north.
A nematode "brain worm",
Parelaphostrongylus tenuis,
is carried by deer, and
although the deer are not
effected, blindness,
disorientation, paralysis
and death are
the result when moose are
infected. The parasite
cannot survive in very cold
climates, but as
white-tailed deer move north
into regions such as the
Yukon Territory due to the
warming climate, so does the
worm.
To balance that problem,
global warming also
increases the incidence of
forest fires, which are good
for moose. That may seem
odd, but when mature spruce
forests burn, the new open
areas are wonderful moose
habitat, with an abundance
of new plant growth.
Logging, while it produces
the open areas, does not
release nitrogen into the
cold northern soils as fires
do.
On the following page are
dozens of links to more
information about everything
from moose habits to
furniture made from moose
antlers, and more moose
photos and graphics.
For
more information regarding
moose in Canada and more
articles by Murray Lundberg,
please visit
Explore North.
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