Moose are Absolute Units

The Moose: A Canadian Icon

This video explores the characteristics and behavior of moose, which are one of Canada's most beloved animals.

Moose Size and Antlers

• Moose are the largest deer in the world and can weigh up to 700 kilograms.

• Their antlers can be up to 1.8 meters wide and are used for sexual selection and defense against predators.

• Moose shed their antlers every winter and grow a new pair every spring, with size depending on testosterone levels.

Velvet Antlers and Bark Stripping

• Moose antlers have thousands of tiny hair follicles that give them a velvety texture until they shed their velvet in September.

• During this time, moose rub their antlers on trees to remove the velvet, resulting in stripped bark and bloody messes.

Other Facts About Moose

• In Europe, moose are known as elks because of their Latin name "Alces alces."

• White or albino moose with white antlers are called spirit moose and are protected in Canada as sacred creatures by native communities.

• Due to their size, adult moose have few predators besides Siberian tigers.

Moose Struggle in Hot Summers

This section discusses how moose struggle during hot summers and the impact it has on their survival.

Moose Lose Appetite in Hot Summers

• Moose lose their appetite during especially hot summers.

• This can prevent them from gaining enough weight to survive the following winter.

Cooling Down by Swimming

• To cool down on a hot summer day, moose go swimming.

• Swimming also helps them get rid of parasites and hide from horse flies.

• They can swim up to 10 kilometers in a day and hold their breath underwater for up to 30 seconds.

Adapting to Eating Water Plants

• Moose spend so much time in cool ponds that they have adapted to eat water plants such as lilies and water weeds.

• When foraging for food underwater, they are even able to close their nostrils - they're the only deer known to do this.

• Water weeds are an important source of nutrition for moose as they require a high nutrient and low fiber diet.

Specific Diet Requirements

• Moose need a very specific mix of plants to have a balanced diet.

• Eating too much fiber can kill them.

• This is one of the reasons why moose haven't been domesticated on a large scale. If they're fed hay, it gets stuck in their bellies. In one particularly tragic case, a moose starved to death with 100 kilograms of hay in its intestines because there was no room for it to digest new food.

Reasons Behind Declining Southern Moose Populations

This section discusses the reasons behind declining southern moose populations.

Climate Change Impact

• Southern moose populations are crashing, with most numbers having been halved in southern Ontario and Cape Breton in the past 10 years.

• The first reason for this is climate change. Summers are becoming too hot for moose to endure, and winters don't always provide enough snow for young moose to be safe from predators.

Impact of White-Tailed Deer

• The second reason behind declining southern moose populations is white-tailed deer.

• As roads, human activity, and climate change allow white-tailed deer to expand their range northward, they're introducing pathogens such as liver fluke and meningial worms to moose respectively.

• These can cause moose to die from liver failure and go blind and starve to death.

Moose Struggle with Ticks

This section discusses how ticks affect the health of moose.

Bark Stripping

• Moose will often rub themselves up against trees with their antlers and their whole body to remove parasites like ticks or for marking their territory.

• Deer ticks and winter ticks can have a devastating effect on moose.

Health Issues Caused by Ticks

• On top of severe blood loss, ticks cause extreme itchiness.

• Moose try to deal with this by scratching themselves on trees but sometimes they do it so violently that they lose parts of their coat and end up getting deep cuts and bruises.

• Without a coat, moose are likely to suffer frostbite in the winter, leading them to an almost certain death.

• In some cases, they've been found to have over a hundred thousand ticks on their body at the same time.

Conclusion

This section concludes the video by summarizing key points and encouraging viewers to subscribe for new episodes.

• Moose population controls are ongoing, but as the weather changes and deer multiply, it becomes harder and harder to save the mighty moose.

• The video ends with a sighting of a moose in the wild.

• Viewers are encouraged to leave comments about what they would like to see next and subscribe for new episodes.