Moose Biology

Kristine Rines (née Bontaites) is the moose biologist for the state of New Hampshire. A native of New Hampshire, she received her bachelor's degree in wildlife management from Michigan State University. After working for the state of Michigan, she returned home to New Hampshire, where, after working as an animal damage control agent for two years, she was hired as the state's first moose biologist in 1985. In 2006 Kris was named Distinguished Moose Biologist by the North American Moose Conference.

Kris developed and implemented the state's first moose season in 1988. She is responsible for moose management and research as well as being the regional biologist for the central region of the state.

Where do moose go in winter?

It's no secret that moose do not winter in Florida. Condo associations refuse to admit them, so moose must find winter quarters in other climes. Luckily for them, they are perfectly adapted to spend the winter in the snowy north, far from Florida's sunny shores. Moose are, after all, a northern species. They exist all across the northern hemisphere from China to Scandinavia in Eurasia and from Utah to Alaska in North America. Moose are perfectly adapted to live in the wintry north. Their large body size reduces heat loss because of the low surface-area-to-volume ratio. Long legs allow adult moose to handle snow depths of 36 inches, although at 28 inches they may seek shelter in softwood cover. In addition, snow crust will cause moose to restrict their movements to a more sheltered environment. Spend five minutes walking without snowshoes on a breaking crust and you'll understand why! While long legs allow moose to handle snowdepths far beyond the abilities of white-tailed deer (which can handle about 18 inches), moose do prefer to spend the winter in an area that provides plenty of browse near a sheltering, mature mixed-wood or coniferous forest.

This shelter actually serves a dual purpose—not only does it help moose deal with crust or very deep snow, it protects them from heat! The moose's long and hollow outer hair coat, with its dense soft undercoat, allows it to easily withstand the coldest of temperatures. While calves begin to feel the cold at -22 degrees F, adults are able to withstand far colder temps. Moose are so well insulated from the cold that winter temperatures of 23 degrees F will make them pant. As our winter temperatures can be quite variable, moose depend on the shade of softwood cover to keep them cool during our warmer winter days. On warm winter days, some moose will lie flat in the snow to try to dissipate their body heat. Summer temperatures as low as 57 degrees F can cause moose to begin to suffer from heat stress, and moose will begin panting at 68 degrees F. So, while Florida condo associations won't rent to moose, the moose don't care. They'd much rather spend their winters up north—and the colder the better. (This answer was originally published in New Hampshire Fish and Game's monthly Wildlife Report and is reprinted here with permission.)

I have heard that moose do not see well. I assume this to be true. Do they then hunt and gather their favorite plants based on smell or do they just sample and move on? What is their sense of smell?

Moose do not see well at close range and must roll their eyes forward in order to see items up close. This is not due so much to poor vision as it is to eye placement. Because their eyes are set more to the sides of the head they have a rather large blind spot in front of them.

Moose do tend to sample a lot of things. Once they find something they like it's hard to know how they identify it again without asking the moose. However, we do know that moose have an excellent sense of smell (difficult not to with a nose that big) that is far superior to ours. Their tongue has fewer taste buds than a humans. This is something you would instantly realize if you ever tried to consume a mouthful of balsam fir. Based on this we assume their ability to recognize things by taste alone may not be as great as our own. Their ability to differentiate foods is sufficiently acute to allow them to eat only the highest quality and best tasting forage when forage is abundant, i.e., if you had a clear cut full of regenerating red maple and aspen, moose in New Hampshire would eat far more aspen than red maple. But if you put that same moose in a clear cut with red maple and raspberry moose would feed primarily on the red maple.

What is the body temperature of a moose?

The normal body temperature for moose is 101-102 degrees.

I am a tour guide at Exit Glacier, outside of Seward, Alaska. I am somewhat familiar with moose, habitats and diet. But, since moose are cud-chewers and lack upper incisors how do they seem to be able to pretty much "clean-cut" reasonably large woody twigs? I am guessing that they might use their molars to shear the wood but am not sure. Deer and goats generally do an up and down head jerk when browsing but, as often as not, that results in a "peel." I tend to see no evidence of peeling of the bark (some breakage, tho) as a result of browsing moose. Unglulates do have a "pad" of tissue on the upper jaw, but I doubt that the Moose are using that to "bite" woody twigs that are finger size in diameter.

Moose do use their front incisors to bite twigs off. They also use their molars to strip the leaves off of branches. I've not heard of them biting off twigs using their molars.

I have a biology-related question. I have heard of a third estrus cycle taking place with cows. Is this true?

Yes. Moose are polyestrous. If the cow isn't bred she will recycle approximately every 23 days. They will continue to come into heat into March. So may have as many as seven estrous periods.

I really enjoy your moose page. It is stated that a moose has independent eyes (that can move in different directions at the same time) and if the brain can only absorb one thought process at a time. What causes the moose to run from a harsh shadow, caused by headlights, into the path of that vehicle? I have asked many in the medical profession to no avail. I can't help but think that the shadow that is caused by the oncoming vehicle causes the moose to interpret the shadow as a predator, fight or flight instinct kicks in and causes the eye watching the shadow to cancel out the vision on the headlights and in turn the moose runs into harms way.

This is strictly my assesment. It's a little hard to ask the animal. However, I believe moose don't dive into the shadow because the light of the headlights has dialated the pupil and they can only see in the light of the headlight. They aren't running from the shadow as much as they are staying in the light.

I work for Saskatchewan Environment and we are currently having a debate on how deep a moose can dive. Some say they never do, some say it is in the area of 75 feet. Can you please tell me generally how deep moose can dive and how often that would happen?

Ah yes, the diving moose controversy. As no one has ever "swum with moose" it's difficult to know for sure. However, moose are poorly equipped to dive. Their hair coat is hollow and very bouyant, they don't have flippers or webbed feet, and they have large lungs which when filled with air (and we hope they are) only add to their bouyancy. If you watch moose feeding in ponds you may see them feed in water that's over their shoulders so when they reach for the vegetation they are completely underwater. However, there is video footage in which the moose is obviously swimming and tries to "dive" for vegetation. It's butt keeps bobbing to the surface and it's obviously having a very hard time getting far from the surface. A moose who dives 75 feet probably got an aqualung and dive belt for the holidays.

I was wondering if there is any need for the bell on moose. I have asked Park officials and they do not have any answers as to why the moose has a bell or its purpose.

[Editor's note: we prefaced our question to Kris with this statement: "We have been answering the question of the purpose of a moose's bell by using something we read, namely that it helps water drain off the moose's chin while feeding in water. Then we saw a moose documentary that said the bell was used by a bull to spread its urine in the mating "bed" or whatever it's called. But this begs the question of why a cow has a bell."]

Hard sayin not knowin. The bell certainly does act as a site for urine splashing but that's only because it's located on the animal's neck where the splashing is taking place. It's a secondary sex characteristic and is far more pronounced in bulls than in cows. Like antler's it probably gives cows some sense of the bulls fitness as a mate. "Wow Mildred, did you get a load of that bell?" The "clapper" on the bell can freeze in cold winters and fall off.

I was wondering if there was a way to find out how old a moose is by its teeth and if so how? And how about a moose's size?

You can age a moose by (a) examining the eruption pattern and amount of wear on the teeth of the lower jaw and (b) by sectioning one of the two middle incisor teeth and counting the layers of cementum. The second method is more accurate than the first but the first can be done in the field and is pretty accurate up to about age 5. In response to the second question, although the age of a moose can be determined by its jaw, its size cannot be.

What is the largest moose on record, and how much would it need to eat to sustain itself?

To the best of my knowledge the heaviest harvested moose weighed in at 1,697 lbs (Alaskan bull). Moose on average need to consume approximately 2.5 - 3.5% of their body weight in dry matter/day in the summer. In the winter this drops to approximately 0.5 - 1.3 %. The water content of forage differs both by forage type and time of year of consumption. The actual or wet weight of forage will therefore differ from the estimated dry matter intake.

As an avid outdoorsman I have noticed that there appears to be subspecies or certain generic similarities to moose. I live in northern Alberta where we have a large population and there seems to be a larger brownish moose with grey legs, people sometimes call these Alaskan moose. Then we seem to have a shorter all brown moose that doesn't seem to grow nearly as big of horns. The all brown moose is a bit more elusive, possible because they are an easier target for predators. I sure would like to know about this because its been a topic around many campfires. Thank you.

There are four sub-species of moose in North America. Two of these occur in Alberta; Alces alces shirasi and Alces alces andersoni. A. a shirasi is smaller than andersoni. There is a coat color difference that is described in "the moose book" but by and large color is very similar. If you wish to look up the color pattern the book is The Ecology and Management of the North American Moose by Franzmann and Schwartz.

My husband has been searching for the answer to this question for years. Most universities seem not to know. Why do moose eyes look sometimes brown, red or green at night? What is the biological reason for that?

The reason for the eye shine is a little organ called the tapetum lucidum. It is a reflective structure at the back of the eye that improves night vision by reflecting light back into the retina. Most nocturnal mammals come equipped with this little goody. Why the eye shines different colors is another matter; I've seen moose eyes shine orange, green, yellow and white. It's something to do with the angle of the shine and energy of the light wavelength.

What is the purpose of the hump on back of the moose? Does the size/shape of this hump change with either sex hormones and/or food supplies? Does the hump contain primary muscles, fat or other tissues?>

The moose's hump (sounds like a good title for children's book) is caused by the long vertebral processes of the spine which are covered by muscle. The shape does not change due to sex hormones, food supplies or water, nor is any fat stored there.

I saw a TV show about the white tail deer and I learned that it is possible for them to give a disease to moose that causes infection in the moose's brain and in turn kills the moose. I would like to know what the disease is called and if it can be spread to other smaller animals. Can this have affected my dog's death. It had an infection in the brain and died. Thanks for your help and information!

Parelaphostrongylus tenuis, aka the brainworm, is the parasite the deer pass to moose via a secondary host which is the land snail. The deer pass the larvae of the parasite off in their feces. A land snail comes along and feeds on the feces absorbing the larvae. The snail moseys on its way and while minding its own business gets consumed by a moose. The moose's digestive tract turns the snail into, well, snail soup and the larvae are released into the moose's digestive tract. From there, they migrate into the vascular system and make their way to the central nervous system. The moose's immune system goes to work and try's to eliminate this invader. Swelling occurs causing all sorts of neurological symptoms including blindness, deafness, circle walking, awkward head and body carriage, paralysis and eventually death. Brainworm is a problem for cervids but does not affect other species. You can not get it from eating moose meat.

Is it possible to positively identify the sex of a moose from its tracks alone? I have heard that bulls rear prints will generally fall inside the front ones, while the opposite is true for cows. Is this correct?

No, this is not correct. In fact, the skeletons are the same. However, bulls prints may (heavy emphasis on the may) be more rounded than cows because they travel around more during the rut, but even here differences depend on the substrate.

Your site is very informative about moose, but I have one question that no one can seem to answer for me, so I was hoping you could help... I heard somewhere that the females eyes were different then the males on the moose. If they are, how do they differ? Is this true or just a rumor?

Yes, very much a rumor. People may be getting this confused with the face coloration which is dark in bulls and light in cows. Bulls have light brown hair above the eyes and black faces while a cow's face is uniformly light brown.

What is the amount of water moose must drink for survival and in turn not become dehydrated? How do they obtain this fresh water in the winter months when the lakes and rivers are so frozen over? Are they able to store it like camels or does their system allow them to use snow or some other means to compensate?

This is a difficult question since it really hasn't been researched. Moose are primarily a species of the boreal forest in which water is usually quite abundant. As water hasn't been a limiting factor for moose its use has not received extensive study. They do not have the ability to "store" water as do camels. They do eat snow in the winter. And from experience we know that it's a sure bet their water consumption is more than 8 glasses a day!

I have never seen moose in a zoo. Do any zoos support moose? Why haven't I see any? Is there a reason why?

Nutrition has always been a problem for captive moose. Simply put manufactured feeds don't keep them alive for long so most zoos were reluctant to exhibit moose. A few years ago the Moose Research Center in Kenai, Alaska made big improvements on the formula of a moose diet. Animals do much better on this— both living longer and maintaining condition at a higher level. It's still not perfect but animals can live on this diet alone. Because of this "breakthrough" some facilities are placing moose in their exhibits.

I am a biologie student in Germany and I [am making] a behavior study about alces alces in a wild resort. My question: Do you know something about a gland (odour) at the heel of a moose leg?

This question is about the tarsal gland. It's located on the hind leg at the inner side of the hock. Both sexes have it. When excited the hairs on this gland stand up. In white-tailed deer these glands can become quite pungent during the rut but I've never noticed any appreciable odor on our bulls. They may be used scent communication but this has not been proven.

I am an amateur archeologist and avocational epigrapher. Our discussion group was contacted by a person who found some mysteriously shaped "stones" with perhaps Shaman-carvings on them...very old, maybe Indian stuff, maybe not. Some of us think they look like pieces of pottery, others think they look like broken ivory, since only part of the figure shows on one...the legs of a man. Others insist from the outline photos that they are elks teeth, but I have seen many of those and think they are too large. Question: do moose, like elk, have "whistlers," the bulgy canine teeth that the Nat. Am's (sic) collect and use for decoration? Would moose canines be larger or smaller than elk? The teeth idea may still be valid if a larger animal had them.

Moose do not have the type of canine teeth possessed by elk. Their canines are just smaller versions of the other incisors. Aboriginal people made scant use of moose teeth. Nova Scotia Micmacs used them as dice, Carrier women used them as flaking devices, the eastern Cree removed them as possibly talismanic symbols. Finally some people hung moose calf teeth around the necks of teething children (perhaps the precursor to teething rings).

[For a project on the effects of climate change in New England] ...I'm wondering if and how moose will be affected by a warmer New England. I've found that moose have a very warm winter coat, and become thermally stressed when winter temperatures are consistently higher than 23 degrees F. Could this mean that moose populations might migrate north, leaving some NE states, to stay in cooler climates?

Moose do not fare well when summer temperatures get above 57 degrees F orwhen winter temperatures are higher than 23 degrees F. Moose won't migrate out of New England to cooler temperatures having no knowledge of where to go. They will stay in their home range and try to adjust by spending more time in the shade or in cooling water or at higher elevations. The stress of high summer temperatures will cause moose to stop eating as they try to stay cool. This in turn leaves them more vulnerable to starvation in winter. In addition, animals that enter the winter in poor health are more likely to suffer from poor reproductive success in the spring due to either re-absorption of the fetus, still born calves or calves that are too weak at birth to rise and suckle. So, the probable result of increasing temperatures in New England will be a declining moose population.

I am an amateur archeologist and avocational epigrapher. Our discussion group was contacted by a person who found some mysteriously shaped "stones" with perhaps Shaman-carvings on them...very old, maybe Indian stuff, maybe not. Some of us think they look like pieces of pottery, others think they look like broken ivory, since only part of the figure shows on one...the legs of a man. Others insist from the outline photos that they are elks teeth, but I have seen many of those and think they are too large. Question: do moose, like elk, have "whistlers," the bulgy canine teeth that the Nat. Am's (sic) collect and use for decoration? Would moose canines be larger or smaller than elk? The teeth idea may still be valid if a larger animal had them.

Moose do not have the type of canine teeth possessed by elk. Their canines are just smaller versions of the other incisors. Aboriginal people made scant use of moose teeth. Nova Scotia Micmacs used them as dice, Carrier women used them as flaking devices, the eastern Cree removed them as possibly talismanic symbols. Finally some people hung moose calf teeth around the necks of teething children (perhaps the precursor to teething rings).

Could you please tell me the intelligence of a moose?

Moose are smart enough to have populated large portions of the northern hemisphere and survived for approximately 2 million years. Not bad for an animal many people consider stupid. People who believe moose are stupid are really commenting on the fact that moose do not always flee when danger presents itself. We interpret that as stupidity. In the world of a moose facing danger has the decided benefit of reducing the chances for you or you offspring of being eaten by your primary predators (wolves or bears). As you or I would undoubtedly run for our lives when faced with similar imminent predation we must come to the conclusion that moose are both smart and brave and in comparison we therefore must be stupid and cowardly. I guess it all depends on who's looking at who.

Much of the information contained in these answers can be found in Ecology and Management of the North American Moose by Franzmann and Schwartz. Anyone who loves moose and is interested in learning more about them should obtain a copy. This is a Wildlife Management Institute bookpublished by the Smithsonian Institution Press (1998). It is the most comprehensive book on moose ever published. You will literally find everything you ever wanted to know about moose in this volume.