WolfQuest

This is interesting!

"Even a weak, vulnerable moose is considerably safer from an attacking wolf when standing in just a few feet of water." (http://www.isleroyalewolf.org/overview/ ... moose.html)

I guess that makes sense given the long legs of moose and the disadvantage a wolf would have even in shallow water. It would be cool to add to have the WQ moose in the water (someday).

Anduril wrote:

Kirave wrote:

Thanks for posting those, Pepper! I had no idea about a lot of them. I never would've thought about riding a moose... it honestly just seems like an unwise thing to attempt.

Hahaha, but imagine the possibilities! No-one would fear you if you were to ride one of those enormous creatures.

Kirave wrote:

Anduril wrote:

Kirave wrote:

Thanks for posting those, Pepper! I had no idea about a lot of them. I never would've thought about riding a moose... it honestly just seems like an unwise thing to attempt.

Hahaha, but imagine the possibilities! No-one would fear you if you were to ride one of those enormous creatures.

On the contrary I'm pretty sure I'd fear someone if they were riding a moose, heh. Certainly wouldn't mess with them, though.

Welp, I meant "you'd have nothing to fear". This is what I get for half-awake posting.

Shirra wrote:I read the previous posts to see if this was already discussed, and I didn't see it; since moose aren't native to Europe I understand using the blanket term 'elk', but how do you distinguish between C. canadensis and A. alces?

I had this discussion before with someone about the elk in WQ, which they referred to as moose. I think we found that the European terms indeed just get confused... I'm not a native English speaker, though, so can't be sure. Dutch has two distinguishing terms, and I got to know the AE terms at a young age.

Shirra wrote:
I read the previous posts to see if this was already discussed, and I didn't see it; since moose aren't native to Europe I understand using the blanket term 'elk', but how do you distinguish between C. canadensis and A. alces?

My understanding is that Alces alces is called moose in North America and Eurasian moose or elk in Europe and Asia. There are also lots of subspecies such as A. a. americana)

The North American elk or wapiti – C. canadensis is also a large deer (though smaller than moose – moose (Alces alces) can be twice as big North American elk (C. canadensis)!

"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." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose

Moose also have those big droopy noses and the bell hanging from their necks.

Moose (Alces alces) are also solitary, and elk (C. canadensis) live in herds.

Here is a quick cheat visual of North American moose vs. elk .

I've encountered moose IRL before. You certainly don't want to mess with them - they can be incredibly territorial & will totally mess you up.

Its really scary driving up north here, where there is a very real chance you'll hit a moose on the road. Fortunately that's never happened to me, but I did see a bull moose on the side of the highway. It scared the living daylights out of me!

Kivia wrote:Maybe not a direct comparison, but it reminds me of how folks in the US will call bison "buffalo", while buffalo is more representative of the African or Asian bovine species.

I think that's a fair statement; and in any case I wouldn't want to get too close to either species (in both comparisons).

Moose eyes attractive road salt on unsuspecting SUV
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/vid ... edited-vin

According to the video description, moose will seek out salt licks to supplement their plant-dependent diet (which lacks salt). Road salt is also a subsitute, hence why this moose is licking a couple's car in Canada!

Koa wrote:Moose eyes attractive road salt on unsuspecting SUV
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/vid ... edited-vin

According to the video description, moose will seek out salt licks to supplement their plant-dependent diet (which lacks salt). Road salt is also a substitute, hence why this moose is licking a couple's car in Canada!

Yikes! (I love the close up of moose mouth).

Some of you might have already seen the post shared in the Official WolfQuest Facebook group, but I'd thought I'd share the news about a rare white moose spotted in Sweden.

I've picked some highlights from a more informative article by the Washington Post's Cleve Wootson.

...Sweden has an estimated 400,000 moose, most of which unabashedly resemble Bullwinkle, the newspaper reported. But about 100 of them are mostly white, according to the BBC. Some of them have albinism, in which the body doesn’t produce a lot of melanin pigment. But many more have a recessive gene that causes mostly white fur interspersed with bits of brown, the Local reported.

...And although this moose has made international headlines this week, it probably has never taken a moment to appreciate its rare color.

Moose are colorblind.

For the full article (and a video of the moose), please visit the link below.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/ani ... 5cc4f74cd6

This is really interesting, I didn't know they were colorblind or that there's so few in Yellowstone. And I definitely didn't expect the closable nostrils thing, the fact that they can swim (I don't know, I just usually don't picture big heavy ungulates swimming lol), or their antlers being so heavy.

I've seen moose in the wild in at least three locations; near the Tobacco Root mountains in southwest Montana, the Snowy Range mountains in Wyoming, and in the Star Valley in Wyoming. I once saw a moose crossing the road ahead of me and it helped me appreciate just how large these animals really are.

Moose in Finnish is hirvi. Elk in Finnish is also hirvi. This forces me to talk about the "big hirvi" and the "little hirvi" sometimes which is just silly. Thankfully when talking about Wolf Quest I can just refer to them as "vapiti", though that word is a little uncommon so then I have to explain that vapiti is the little hirvi...

Koa wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 14, 2017 2:28 pm

Moose eyes attractive road salt on unsuspecting SUV
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/vid ... edited-vin

According to the video description, moose will seek out salt licks to supplement their plant-dependent diet (which lacks salt). Road salt is also a subsitute, hence why this moose is licking a couple's car in Canada!

Wait so does this mean that road salt attracts them?