Moose Facts

Moose Facts

1. The male can stand over  7 feet tall. The  female moose stands 7 feet tall. Moose calves weigh up to 30 pounds when they are born.  The male moose antlers can weigh up to 75 pounds. Females weigh up to 1,300 pounds.The colors of the moose are black, brown, and gray.

2. They are shy by nature and act rather dopey they have a slow temperament because of poor vision.  They are startled easily it might go ballistic. They are very good runners.They can dive down to 20feet  under water.The wolf is the main enemy of then moose.They are the largest member in the deer family.

3. Litter size is 1to 2 baby moose. Twins are common when there is adequate food supply.Their life span is 15 to 25 years old.The moose eats willows, aspen, under water plants, and veggies.Predators are black bears, grizzly bears, and wolves.A cow moose gives birth to twins between 15% and 75% of the time. A cow carries unborn caves or calf for about 230 days.

4. Moose, the largest member of the deer family, genus Alces, found in the northern parts of Eurasia and North America. The Eurasian species, A. alces, is known in Europe as the elk, a name which in North America is applied to another large deer, the wapiti. The Eurasian and the American moose are quite similar, but the American moose is somewhat larger and is considered by some to be a separate species, A. americana. It inhabits the coniferous forests of Alaska, Canada, and the northern conterminous United States. 

5. The moose has a heavy brown body with humped shoulders, and long, lighter-colored legs; the front pair longer than the hind ones. It has a thick, overhanging, almost trunk like muzzle and a short neck; a flap of skin covered with long hair and called the bell hangs from the throat. The male has broad, extremely flattened antlers, with a spread of up to 6 ft (180 cm). The largest variety is the Alaska moose; the adult male weighs from 1,000 to 1,800 lb (450-820 kg) and stands as much as 71/2 ft (2.3 m) high at the shoulder. 

6. Browsers rather than grazers, moose eat leaves, twigs, buds, and the bark of some woody plants, as well as lichens, aquatic plants, and some of the taller herbaceous land plants. Moose live in small groups during the summer, sometimes forming large herds in the winter. They are polygamous, the males becoming very aggressive during the mating season. 

7. They are strong swimmers, reportedly crossing lakes many miles wide. 

8. Although moose are generally timid, the males become very bold during the autumn breeding season; it is not uncommon for them to charge at moving trains. The females utter a loud call, similar to the lowing of cattle. During breeding (the rut), males will compete for females by fighting with their antlers and hoofs and by fierce clashing of antlers. As well as bellowing, the female moose emits a strong,odoriferous pheromone in order to attract a mate. 

9. She also secretes pheromones in her urine which lets the males know that she is in estrus. 

10. Females may begin to breed at 2, but more usually 3 years of age. 

11. The female gives birth to one or (occasionally) two calves at a time, in spring. The gestation period for  moose is about 216 to 240 days. 

12. Moose calves grow very quickly, nourished by their mother's milk, which is very high in fat and other nutrients. 

13. In North America, during the winter, moose may form loose aggregations in fairly dense conifer forests, which they keep open by trampling the snow. 

14. In the spring, moose can often be seen in drainage ditches at the side of roads, taking advantage of road salt which has run off the road. These minerals replace electrolytes missing from their winter diet. 

15. In North America, changes in land use patterns, mainly the clearing of northern forests for settlement and agriculture, have led to the range of the White tailed deer expanding northward. Where their ranges overlap, moose may become infected by parasites carried by the deer such as brain worm, Parelaphostrongylus tenuis, and winter ticks, Dermacentor albipictus, which, though fairly harmless to deer, can be fatal to moose. 

16. A moose's body structure, with a large heavy body suspended on long spindly legs, makes these animals particularly dangerous when hit by motor vehicles. Such collisions are often fatal for both the moose and motorist. Moose are reported to kill more people in Canada than any other animal except, perhaps, for bees (far exceeding the toll of, for example, the grizzly bear). The overwhelming majority of human fatalities attributable to moose occur in motor vehicle collisions with moose. 

17. Females can be extremely protective of their young, and extreme caution should be exercised when approaching a cow moose. 

18. The lifespan of a moose in the wild is roughly 15 to 25 years. 

19. Protection in national parks and reserves in Canada and the United States has saved the moose from extermination. Hunting of moose is strictly regulated. 

20. The Eurasian moose, or elk, is found from Scandinavia to E Siberia. Moose are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, Class Mammalia, order Artiodactyla, family Cervidae. 

21. Moose are one of the largest land mammals in North America.

22. Moose occur in Alaska, Canada and the northern U.S. (from North Dakota to northern New England, and from the northern Rockies south to Utah).

23. Moose can move each ear and each eye independently.

24. A moose’s home range varies from 5 to 50 square miles.

25. The average life span is 8 years for a cow, 7 years for a bull,though some may live 20 years.

26. Bull moose make several noises, including a loud bellow, as well as croaks and barks during rut. Cows make long quavering moans, ending in cough-like moo-aghs, and a grunt when gathering their young.

27. Moose sleep on the ground, like deer, leaving beds of flattened vegetation, or depressions in the snow.

28. Moose can store over 100 pounds of food in their stomachs.

29. Each year, from April to August, bull moose grow a new set of antlers that can be as much as 4-5 feet wide and weigh 25-30 pounds.