Moose
Alces americanus
Summary 3
The moose (alces americanus) are the largest of the deer family (Cervidae). Their physical properties include long legs they use often to travel through deep snow, in addition to fending off predators. The moose coat is black and may also be a red/brown color. Their coat is lighter on the ventral portion of the body and on the legs. Moose have hunched shoulders, an overhanging lip, a short tail, and a bell shaped mass of skin and hair under their throat. They also have wide hooves, as shown in the picture above, to travel through snow. Males are the only sex that have antlers, and these antlers are the biggest of the Cervidae family. One difference between moose and elk antlers is moose grow palmate antlers (thick and flat base with little branches) and elk grow unbranched antlers until their third year when their antlers grow small spikes. There is an ongoing debate whether the Eurasian elk is the same species as the moose; however, they differ in their chromosome count, coat coloration, skulls, and antlers. Even though both these animals are found in Europe and Asia, only the moose is found in Canada and northern parts of the United States. Moose are not present in Iron County, Utah. However, they are found in parts of northern Utah.
http://www.arkive.org/moose/alces-americanus/
http://www.elkplanet.com/elk%20facts.htm
Sources and Credits
- (c) Susan Hunt, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/7366198@N03/1573176627
- (c) josiebrandowriggs, all rights reserved
- Adapted by josiebrandowriggs from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alces_americanus
