The amazing moose!

When people see their first Alaskan moose it's more than just "Oh look a large dumb deer". They are extremely large, reaching seven feet at the shoulder and three feet or more above that! In other words, waist high bushes would just barely reach their knees! They have a hefty headdress as well, that can span a good six feet, and massive over sized deer hoof's that can total a car into a crumpled soda can resemblance. A bull moose can weigh between eight hundred-fifty lb's to one thousand five hundred-eighty lb's of pure muscle and bone! Alaskan moose in particular are the largest specie of deer on earth!


    They say that if you're in a car and a large moose is in front of you and won't get out of the road, that you should not provoke by honking, nor should you try to go around it. Moose don't like cars, and some deliberately destroy cars for the destructive yearning. So it's better to just simply wait even if it takes two hours for the majestic king of the road to move out of the way. What's nice about moose is that they are herbivores, and generally if you stay out of their way they'll stay out of yours. 


   To paint the picture just a wee bit better, moose are not massive clumsy animals who commonly trip over roots or get their antlers stuck between trees all the time. Most people say that they glide over the terrain, the moose's walk matching the speed of a person running. It's as if they had been built for uneven terrain, traversing clumps of brush quickly and quietly. They also are great beasts in the snow, and even if the snow is up to their necks they have enough force to forge a path.When moose run, THEY REALLY GO FAST! They can run up or beyond thirty-five miles an hour! They are also great water beasts, that can hold their breath for a full minute, and can swim fifteen miles per hour! However they are at their weakest point when they are in chest high water as it constrains their movement, and they can't see predators since they usually have their heads under water as they feed on pond weeds. 
    Moose have an amazing sense of smell and hearing, but their eyesight is very poor having a huge blind spot directly in front of them and not being see when objects are only a few feet away.


    A family used to live in the outback, and they had a pet moose. They decided to move roughly a hundred miles away and couldn't take the moose so they left him to fend for himself in the wild. Moose become insanely loyal to any lucky owner and so the moose got really lonely. He managed to pick up their scent even though they drove and a while later he showed up at their new location!!! Yes, I would say that they have a trackers nose. They are also very smart and can be quickly trained to do things. I am sure that if someone had plenty of time to kill, he could teach a moose how to help him hunt other animals.


  Historically, a large bull moose was great for a neighborhood feast and the nose was usually boiled down for the cartilage. Some Norwegians managed to tame a few and used them for pulling sleds. A moose could pull half it's weight for a twelve hour day. Back in the 1600's Ivan The Terrible was invading Siberia and his Cossacks had been defeated many times by a tribe that husbanded moose.They tried to outlaw moose riders to pipe down the rebellious Siberians. The tribe had tamed moose and used hit and run tactics, suddenly showing up from the forest, attacking and then disappearing into the underbrush. The horses could not keep up with the moose and had trouble going through the terrain. They managed to hunt down many of the moose riders and mangled the animal and the rider in public to instill submission. They also burned and pillaged anyone who husbanded moose, even destroying whole villages. The tribe was very proud of their moose ( I don't think they call them Meese), and they had the most versatile mount for traveling through the marshes. 
   King Karl XI of Sweden considering creating a moose cavalry, since the mere sight of the moose scared any Calvary of horses out of their wits. However his attempt at breeding moose failed because they were too susceptible to livestock diseases and malnutrition.  
Pet moose vid
     Today scientists in Russia have managed to breed moose, training them to forage and return in the morning and evening to the stable to be milked and worked. So far they have managed to distill the cow's motherly defense mechanisms and can take newborn calves without much protesting. They have managed to make the female moose trusting which is an amazing feat in the scientific world. 


         If I was to get a mount, I'd like a moose especially if I was bushwhacking in Alaska!
   So if you see people riding moose around it might just be because they are being bred like horses.     :)
               

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