Moose, and why they’re so amazing

The moose (Alces alces) is quite an incredible beast.

Me being absolutely flabbergasted by the sheer size of a European moose displayed at the Turin Museum of Natural History. But just how big can moose get?

It’s a survivor of the Last Glacial Maximum, and while the European moose (A. a. alces) currently ranges in northern and eastern Europe (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Baltic States, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine) and Poland, with some vagrant individuals in Croatia, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia and some isolated populations in Austria, Germany and Czech Republic, subfossil remains have also been found as far south as Spain, the UK, Switzerland and Italy. The species has progressively restricted its range up to historical times, mainly due to habitat destruction and overhunting (Niedziałkowska et al. 2024).

It’s the largest modern deer (Cervidae), with the probable largest individual being estimated at 816 kg, and with unconfirmed reports of individuals exceeding a ton (Wood 1976, 1977, 1982). I was particularly impressed with the height of the specimen of European moose displayed at the Turin Museum of Natural History along with an immature female of the same subspecies, both from Poland. Unfortunately it appears that the specimen was never measured, but I awkwardly tried to pose with it to give a sense of scale (photo at the top).

Different angles of the same specimen, compare it to the immature female.

So just how tall can a moose get? According to one edition of the Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats, the largest specimens (belonging to the Alaskan subspecies A. a. gigas, unless you follow Geist) are claimed to be as tall as 2.62 m from the heel to the hump, “but as this is the height of an average adult cow Indian elephant this measurement needs to be authenticated”. The antlers spread of such specimens are claimed to be of 1.61 m. A more average size is 1.8-2 m at the shoulder, with an antler spread of 95-117 cm (Wood 1982; Niedziałkowska et al. 2022). Interestingly, despite their size, moose antlers are actually smaller for their body size than what would be predicted from cervid allometry (Tsuboi et al. 2024). Moose use their long legs to glide over obstacles in a specialized trot, keeping their bodies basically horizontal, while smaller predators like wolves need to continuously reposition their bodies to avoid obstacles, expending a lot more energy (Geist 1999a,b).
Yet another angle of the same specimen, just to appreciate the sheer size of it. Also notice the antlers shape.

Another interesting feature of this specimen is its antlers: these are not palmated like typical for moose. In European moose, antlers size and palmation are correlated with latitude, body size, and especially age, with young and very old individuals having predominantly non-palmated antlers, while it’s the individuals in their prime that sport the palmated antlers typically associated with the species (Niedziałkowska et al. 2022).

Another taxidermy specimen of European moose, this one displayed at the Museo delle Scienze (MUSE) in Trento, showing the palmated antlers more typically associated with moose.

Experiments have shown that the moose’s huge, characteristically palmated antlers may function as parabolic reflectors of sound, augmenting the male moose’s ability to locate females through their calls, and they may also enhance his own calls (Bubenik & Bubenik 2008; Rossetto 2021).

A trophy American moose (A. a. americanus if you follow Geist 1999a,b) found in the most unexpected of places…a clothing shop! Notice the bilobed antlers of American moose compared to the previous European ones. Also notice the very reduced rhinarium.

It seems that the moose lineage (Alceini) gave rise to a number of very large forms: the Gallic moose (Alces (Libralces) gallicus), among the earliest members, was slightly smaller than the modern moose but with very long antler beams, while the later broad-fronted moose (Alces (Cervalces) latifrons) was 50% larger and is considered the largest deer to have ever evolved. It is thought to have given rise to the stag-moose (Alces (Cervalces) scotti) in North America, and to the modern moose in Eurasia, the latter later colonizing North America and replacing the former (Geist 1999a,b; Niedziałkowska et al. 2022).

A stag-moose displayed at the Museo delle Scienze (MUSE). The skull features of Cervalces suggest that this taxon didn’t have the same specialized muzzle of modern moose.

Moose are among the most aquatic of non-cetacean artiodactyls, being able to traverse tens of kilometres and to dive to depths of more than 5.5 m in search of aquatic vegetation. Their proboscis-like snout may be an adaptation to aquatic foraging: the nostrils can be closed, and it has been speculated that the very spacious nasal cavity may enable buoyancy control while diving. These aquatic habits also mean that moose are occasionally on the menu of orcas (Orcinus orca, Geist 1999b; Clifford & Witmer 2004; Márquez et al. 2018; Mäkinen 2022).

There would be a ton more to say, but I think my obsession with these animals is already apparent enough. Deer in general are quite fascinating creatures, and they will feature again, so stay tuned!

References

  • Bubenik, G.A. and Bubenik, P.G. (2008) Palmated Antlers of Moose May Serve as a Parabolic Reflector of Sounds. European Journal of Wildlife Research, 54, 533-535.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-007-0165-4
  • Clifford, A. B., and Witmer, L. M. (2004). Case studies in novel narial anatomy: 2. The enigmatic nose of moose (Artiodactyla: Cervidae: Alces alces). Journal of Zoology, 262(4), 339–360. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952836903004692
  • Geist, V. (1999a). Deer of the World. Swan Hill Press, Shrewsbury.
  • Geist, V. (1999b). Moose: behavior, ecology, conservation. Stillwater,MN: Voyageur Press.
  • Mäkinen, A. (2022). “The effect of the nasal anatomy on the behaviour patterns of the European elk (Alces alces)” (Thesis).
  • Márquez, A.S. Pagano, C.S. Mongle, K.H. Albertine, J.T. Laitman (2018). The nasal complex of a semiaquatic artiodactyl, the moose (Alces alces): is it a good evolutionary model for the ancestors of cetaceans?Anat. Rec., 302 (2019), pp. 667-692
  • Niedziałkowska, M. et al. (2024). Impact of global environmental changes on the range contraction of Eurasian moose since the Late Pleistocene, Science of The Total Environment, Volume957, 2024, 177235, ISSN 0048-9697,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177235.(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969724073923)
  • Niedziałkowska, M. et al. (2022). Moose Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758). In: Corlatti, L., Zachos, F.E. (eds) Terrestrial Cetartiodactyla. Handbook of the Mammals of Europe. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24475-0_23
  • Rossetto, M. (2021) Antlers Are Shaped as Elements of Concave Surfaces that Reflect and Concentrate Incoming Sounds. Natural Science, 13, 469-473.
  • Tsuboi, M., Kopperud, B.T., Matschiner, M. et al. Antler Allometry, the Irish Elk and Gould Revisited. Evol Biol 51, 149–165 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-023-09624-1
  • Wood, G. L. (1977). Animal facts and feats. Sterling Pub. Co.
  • Wood, G. L. (1976). The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats. Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives.
  • Wood, G. L. (1982). The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats. Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nope, this is NOT Dilophosaurus

Image
The large double-crested theropod dinosaur displayed at the Museo delle Scienze (MUSE).   Surely this is Dilophosaurus right!? Surprise, it's not. Nope, the mounted skeleton you see in the photo, a cast displayed at the Museo delle Scienze (MUSE), is not actually Dilophosaurus wetherilli . What you're actually seeing here is instead another early theropod dinosaur, the Chinese  Sinosaurus triassicus.  Despite the name, Sinosaurus is from the Early Jurassic, and it's an early example of large theropod dinosaur: it's been recently estimated at around 5-6 m long and more than 800 kg in weight (Liang et al. 2024). Other than S. triassicus , a second species, S. sinensis , is usually ascribed to the genus (see Zhang et al. 2023 and references therein).  Another view of the same mounted skeleton, from a slightly different angle. Note the somewhat surprisingly thin skull. As you can see from the photos, Sinosaurus had a relatively delicate skull construction with a pair ...
Read more

Deer are weirder than you think

Image
  One of the incredible suspended taxidermy displays at the Museo delle Scienze (MUSE), showing two male Central European or common red deer ( Cervus elaphus hippelaphus ) entangled in combat. In some rare instances interlocked males can no longer separate, and they usually both die. As promised in the previous post , here's more on deer and why they're so fascinating. For how mundane we may find them, deer (family Cervidae) are actually some of the weirdest mammals you can think of, for a variety of reasons, which include laryngeal modifications to enhance their calls during rut, ancient hybridizations, bipedal walking, carnivoran-like aggressive posturing and roaring, and much more (if you want to know more on this stuff, as you should, Darren Naish has previously blogged on all this here , here and here ). But what deer are most renowned for, and arguably their weirdest specialization, is their headgear: instead of just evolving horns (keratinous structures with a bony core...
Read more