MOOSE FACTS

From Hinterland Who’s Who, hww.ca

Moose have long, slim legs that end in cloven hooves and dewclaws that spread when walking through soft muskeg or snow.

The pendant of fur-covered skin hanging from the throat, about 30 cm long, is called a bell or dewlap.

The eyesight of the moose is extremely poor; its senses of smell and hearing compensate.

With their physical strength and long legs, moose can travel over almost any terrain, over deadfall trees or through snow that would stop a deer or wolf.

Despite their great size even full-grown, antlered bulls can move almost as silently as a cat through dense forest but when frightened they may crash noisily through the underbrush.

The breeding season, or rut, begins in midseptember. On a good range, more than 90 percent of the cows become pregnant and up to 30 percent bear twins. (When the food supply is poor, rates of pregnancy can drop to 50 percent, and the twinning rate almost to zero.)

At birth a calf moose is tiny. If it is one of twins it may weigh 6 kg; if born singly, between 11 and 16 kg.

Offspring are ungainly copies of their parents. They are helpless at birth and are kept secluded for a couple of days. By then it can outrun a human and swim readily. During the first month after birth it may gain more than half a kilogram a day, and later in the summer more than 2 kg a day.