# Moose

*Alces alces*

Moose are surprisingly adept swimmers, capable of swimming up to 6 miles per hour and diving 20 feet deep to forage for underwater plants.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Chordata › Mammalia › Artiodactyla › Cervidae › Alces
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** increasing
- **Biome:** forest
- **Habitat:** Boreal forests, taiga, temperate mixed forests, and freshwater wetlands.
- **Diet:** Herbivorous browser feeding on willow, birch, and aspen shoots, woody shrubs, and sodium-rich aquatic plants.
- **Range:** Canada, United States, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Russia
- **Size:** Height: 1.4-2.1 m (4.6-6.9 ft) at shoulder; Weight: 200-700 kg (440-1,540 lbs)
- **Lifespan:** 15-25 years
- **Active:** crepuscular
- **Threats:** Vehicle collisions, habitat fragmentation, climate warming (causing heat stress), and severe winter tick infestations.
- **Safe to approach?:** Defensive and potentially dangerous, especially mothers with calves or bulls during the autumn rut. Maintain a safe distance of at least 50 feet (15 meters). If a moose agitates (ears pinned back, hair on hump raised), back away slowly. If it charges, run and put a large obstacle like a tree or vehicle between you and the animal. If knocked down, curl into a ball and protect your head.

## About

The moose (North America) or elk (Eurasia), Alces alces , is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the broad, flat (or palmate ) antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic ("twig-like") configuration. Moose typically inhabit boreal forests and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests of the Northern Hemisphere in temperate to subarctic climates. Hunting and other human activities have caused a reduction in the size of...

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/7f96077a-4b1a-433a-b4cd-6b9d1d6f7913
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/522193
- Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/187783997/medium.jpg (mikaelsoderberg, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.