Description
Moose are large and heavy, with massive heads and long noses. They have short tails, a hump on the shoulders, and large ears they can rotate. Adult males have a long, floppy dewlap - its purpose unknown - that hangs below the throat, and they grow enormous antlers each summer and shed them each winter. Moose can move through deep snow with their long legs, insulated from the cold by a thick coat of hollow hairs. They have good senses of smell and hearing, but are not noted for their eyesight. They eat up to 20 kg of plants each day, and may migrate seasonally looking for freshly growing plants. The total North American population is about 800,000-1.2 million animals. Hunters take about 90,000 Moose annually. Their only other predators are bears and wolves
Links:
Mammal Species of the World
Click here for The American Society of Mammalogists species account
Links:
Mammal Species of the World
Click here for The American Society of Mammalogists species account
- Original description: Linnaeus, C., 1758. Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classis, ordines, genera, species cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tenth Edition, Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm, 1:66, 824 pp.
