Moose (Alces alces): Facts, Size, Antlers and Habitat

Moose or elk? The name explained

The same animal has two names in English. In Britain, Scandinavia and the rest of Europe, Alces alces is the elk, an old Germanic word with relatives in German (Elch) and Swedish (älg). When English settlers reached North America, they borrowed the word moose from an Algonquian language of the Northeast and later gave the name elk to a different animal, the wapiti (Cervus canadensis).

So a European “elk” is a North American moose, while an American elk is a smaller, herd-living deer with branching antlers. The differences are set out in moose vs elk. An adult male moose is called a bull, a female a cow and a young moose a calf, and the plural of moose is simply moose.

Most authorities treat all moose as one species with several subspecies, including the Alaska-Yukon moose (A. a. gigas), the eastern moose (A. a. americana), the Shiras moose of the Rocky Mountains (A. a. shirasi) and the European moose (A. a. alces). Some taxonomists split the North American and East Asian moose into a separate species, Alces americanus, but this is not universally accepted.

Appearance

A moose looks unlike any other deer. It has a short, heavy body set on very long legs, a hump of muscle over the shoulders and a large head with a long, overhanging muzzle. The upper lip is flexible and can grip twigs almost like fingers. Both sexes have a flap of skin and hair hanging under the throat, called the dewlap or bell, whose purpose is still uncertain.

The coat is dark brown to nearly black, often with grayish tones, and the lower legs are paler. Long, hollow guard hairs over a woolly undercoat give excellent insulation in winter and help the animal float when swimming. The tail is so short that it is barely visible. Unlike the spotted fawns of many deer, moose calves are plain reddish brown.

Moose antlers

Only bulls grow antlers, and they are the largest antlers of any living animal. In most moose, especially in North America, each antler spreads into a broad, flat palm edged with points (tines), a shape described as palmate. Many European moose, particularly in the south of their range, carry simpler, more branching antlers.

A typical mature bull’s antlers measure about 1.2–1.5 m (3.9–4.9 ft) from tip to tip. The widest spreads recorded, from Alaska, are a little over 2 m (6.6 ft), and the heaviest sets weigh around 35 kg (77 lb). Antlers grow from spring to late summer covered in soft, blood-rich velvet, which bulls rub off in late summer or early fall. They are shed every winter after the rut, and a new set starts growing in spring. Bulls usually grow their biggest antlers between about 6 and 12 years of age.

How big is a moose?

Size varies with subspecies, region, age and food supply, but moose are giants among deer.

The Alaska-Yukon moose is the largest form, and the moose of eastern Siberia are similar in size. The heaviest well-documented bull, from the Yukon River area in 1897, weighed about 820 kg (1,800 lb). In North America only the American bison is heavier among land mammals. For a full breakdown, including newborn calves, see how big is a moose?

Habitat and range

Moose are animals of the boreal forest, or taiga, and of cool mixed forests. They do best in a patchwork of young and old woodland: young growth after fires, logging or floods provides food, while older forest gives shelter. Willow thickets, bogs, lakeshores and river valleys are favorite places, especially in summer.

In North America, moose live across most of Canada and Alaska, in northern New England and New York, around the western Great Lakes and down the Rocky Mountains as far as Utah and Colorado. They were introduced to Newfoundland in 1878 and 1904 and are now very common there. In Eurasia, they range from Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states and Poland across Russia to eastern Siberia, northern Mongolia and northeast China.

Climate sets the limits. Moose cannot sweat and struggle in heat, so long spells above about 27 °C (81 °F) mark the southern edge of their range, while lack of food and very deep, lasting snow restrict them in the far north.

Diet and feeding

Moose are herbivores and browsers: rather than grazing on grass, they feed mostly on the leaves, shoots, twigs and bark of trees and shrubs. Willows are the favorite food in much of their range, along with birch, aspen and, in Europe, young Scots pine. In summer they also wade into ponds and lakes to eat water plants such as pondweeds and water lilies, which are rich in sodium, a mineral scarce in land plants.

An adult moose eats roughly 20 kg (45 lb) of plant food a day in summer, and large animals more. In winter they survive on woody twigs and bark, which are far less nutritious. Moose can bend saplings down with their bodies or rear onto their hind legs to reach high branches, and heavy browsing leaves a visible browse line in the forest. More on seasonal food is in what do moose eat?

Behavior

Moose are the least social of all deer. Outside the breeding season, adults usually live alone, and the only lasting bond is between a cow and her calf. Several moose may gather loosely where food is plentiful, such as a rich winter willow patch, but they do not form true herds.

They are most active around dawn and dusk. Despite their awkward look, moose move quietly through dense forest, trot easily over fallen logs and deep snow, and can run at up to about 56 km/h (35 mph) in short bursts. They are also excellent swimmers that cross rivers and lakes and even dive for water plants.

Moose rely mainly on their keen senses of smell and hearing; their large ears can turn independently to pinpoint sounds. Some populations migrate between summer and winter ranges, in a few cases more than 100 km (60 mi).

Reproduction and the rut

The breeding season, or rut, runs from about mid-September to October. Bulls stop eating for long periods, thrash bushes with their antlers and scrape wallows. Cows give long, wavering moans, and bulls answer with deep grunts. Rival bulls of similar size push and twist with locked antlers. Most contests end without serious harm, but bulls are sometimes badly injured.

After a pregnancy of about 230 days (roughly 7.5 months), the cow gives birth in late May or June, usually to a single calf, though twins are common where food is plentiful. A newborn calf weighs about 11–16 kg (25–35 lb) and can follow its mother within days. Calves are weaned at about five months but stay with the cow for about a year, until she drives them away shortly before her next calf is born.

Lifespan, predators and threats

Calf losses are heavy: in some areas half or more of calves die within their first weeks, mainly to bears and wolves. Adults are well able to defend themselves with powerful kicks of their front and hind hooves, and most adult moose live about 8–15 years in the wild.

Gray wolves are the main predators of adult moose, especially when deep snow slows them down, while brown bears and black bears take many calves in spring. In the Russian Far East, Amur tigers also hunt moose. In parts of the southern range, especially in the northeastern US and the upper Midwest, numbers have dropped since the 1990s. Winter ticks, brainworm and liver flukes spread by white-tailed deer, and heat stress linked to warmer climates, are among the causes being studied.

Conservation status

The IUCN Red List classifies the moose as Least Concern. National estimates add up to well over a million animals, with roughly 500,000–1,000,000 in Canada, about 600,000 in Russia and several hundred thousand in Scandinavia and Finland. Alaska alone holds around 175,000–200,000.

Moose have also returned to land they had lost. They spread back into Massachusetts and other parts of New England during the 20th century, were reintroduced to Colorado in 1978 and to Poland’s Kampinos National Park in 1951, and a small population has been released in Denmark’s Lille Vildmose since 2016.

Moose and people

Moose have been part of human life in the north since the Stone Age, appearing in rock art in Scandinavia and providing food, hides and tools for many Indigenous peoples of North America. Today they are a well-known symbol of Canada and Scandinavia and a major attraction for wildlife watchers in places such as Denali, Grand Teton and Algonquin parks.

Their size also makes them a real hazard on roads. A moose’s body sits at the height of a car’s windshield, so collisions are often serious, and countries such as Sweden, Norway and Finland fence many highways and post the famous moose warning signs. Moose can also charge people who come too close, particularly cows with calves and bulls in the rut. Why that happens, and how to keep a safe distance, is covered in are moose dangerous?

Myths and facts

Myth: moose cannot bend their legs and sleep leaning on trees. This story goes back to Roman writers such as Julius Caesar and Pliny the Elder. It is not true: moose lie down to rest and chew the cud like other deer.

Myth: moose have poor eyesight, so they cannot see you. Their vision is not their strongest sense, but their hearing and smell are excellent, and they usually notice people long before people notice them.

Fact: moose can feed underwater. They have been recorded diving more than 5 m (16 ft) to reach plants on lake bottoms, closing their nostrils as they go under.