Spring is a time of new beginnings, so that is where this description of a year in the life of moose will start. After the winter, when food was scarce, the animal needs to replenish it's depleted body and some of the moose's favorite food, new plant shoots, are starting to grow. Many female moose, called cows, are pregnant at this time and are almost ready to have their calf or calves. Male moose, called bulls, need to feed their new set of antlers which can grow an inch a day. A moose's winter hair is falling out to make way for their summer coat.
The gestation period for a moose is roughly 240 days. About a week before a mother moose gives birth, somewhere from late May to early June, she begins to chase away her 1-year-old calf, called a yearling. She's taught the yearling all he needs to know and it's time for him to be on his own. She may have to go as far as kicking the yearling to chase him away. These yearlings are very vulnerable at this time of year; bewildered almost. Many are hit by cars before they catch on that their mothers aren't there to watch out for them.
The cow wants to give birth alone, usually under cover of thick brush or on a small island. The area must be suitable to support the mother and new calf for almost a week after it is born. Calves are born weighing 25-35 pounds and they immediately open their eyes. The mother eats the afterbirth in order to avoid an odor which could attract predators to the vulnerable new baby moose. The calf will stand up and nurse within an hour. Calves must be born after the last snow of the winter so that they can grow big and strong enough to survive the next winter to come.
Twins are quite common, occurring about 1 out of every 2 to 3 births. Triplets are pretty rare, although at least one documented case of quadruplets has occurred. A vast majority of North American moose become pregnant each year after their first birthday. The availability of a food source and the overall health of the cow directly affects her fertility. The healthier she is, the more likely she is to have a multiple birth.
One of the few times moose are seen together is when those moose are a cow and her calf. They are quite solitary animals otherwise, since they do not form herds. A few days to a week after the calf is born, the pair leaves the birth area. There are few creatures as protective as a mother moose. Often, when the calf is very young, the cow will hide the calf in the woods while she tiptoes out into a field or pond for several minutes. She is monitoring the area for threats. If during this time a person (or any other threat) were to venture in between the mother and calf unknowingly, the cow could become violent toward the human. When in moose country during the spring and summer months one must be very conscious of this.
The mother teaches the baby to swim very early. Aquatic plants are a moose's food of choice as soon as the ice has melted from the ponds. Those plants, combined with mother's milk will double a calf's weight in about 3 weeks. In the following months, a calf will gain 2-5 pounds each day and so will be about 300 pounds by October.
| In the summer, calves continue to grow and change color from fuzzy reddish-brown to the coarser-haired darker brown of the adults. Their muzzles get longer as do their necks. The mother allows the calf to be slightly farther away while feeding in a pond or foraging in the woods, although she is always very alert. All moose will spend a considerable amount of time deep in the water of a pond. |  |
This keeps them cool in the hot weather. Insects are also a very annoying feature of summertime and the water offers a reprieve.
Watching a moose feed on aquatic plants is very interesting. An adult male, for example, may walk or swim out to the middle of a pond, perhaps shoulder-deep. He'll then submerge his head so that only the hump of his shoulder is above the water. There are special valves inside his nose which keep water from getting inside. He stays under water for a couple of minutes and when he comes back up he is munching a big clump of long, green, water grass. A lot of water gets trapped in his large antlers as he lifts up his head and so the splash sounds like someone dumped out the contents of a 5-gallon bucket!
He'll continue at this for quite some time, consuming around 50 pounds a day. His growing antlers require a huge amount of food and sodium, which aquatic plants supply. Female moose feed similarly, often in lily pads, but those with calves tend to stay in shallower water without submerging their ears. Many moose may feed at one pond at a time, but they will virtually ignore each other.
| Bull moose continue to bulk up in size in time for the mating season in the fall. Their antlers will continue to grow until the middle of August and are covered with a fuzzy skin, called velvet. It is rich in blood vessels which carry nutrients to the growing bone below. The velvet is sensitive as the bone grows. The bulls are careful not to damage the velvet because it causes defects in the antler growth. |  |
The bigger and better the antlers are the better mating season a bull will have. Younger males have shorter, stubbier antlers and will begin to grow more palmated antlers at around 3 years old. Bulls will grow more palmated and pointy racks each year until they are past their prime (after about 10 years old) when they diminish each year after that. Nutrition, health and genetics affect the antlers as well.
| As fall approaches, all moose are looking their best. The antlers on the bulls are as big as they will get by mid to late August. The velvet starts to dry up, itch and fall off. The bulls may rub the antlers on trees to facilitate the skin falling off. Until it is completely gone, it hangs in bloody shreads from the antlers. After that, the antlers are pure bone. Some racks can measure 6-7 feet across and weigh 80 pounds! These antlers are very important during the coming mating season, called the rut, which lasts from mid-September through November. In September many dominant bulls stop eating in a hormonal pursuit of females. |  |
Female moose are attracted to both the size and scent of a bull's antlers. Often, as a bull approaches a cow during the rut, she will lick his antlers to help her decide if she will allow him to mate with her. If there is more than one male in the area of a single cow, the bulls will charge each other with their antlers. If one bull is much larger than the other, the smaller one will usually bow out gracefully or else risk serious injury. The male who wins these challenges usually gets the girl. If there are a few females in the area of a single bull, the females will try and chase each other away and may kick each other as well.
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Calves stay in the area of their mothers through out the rut season. They are usually weaned by this time. Because they are still small and don't pose a threat to the larger males, they are virtually ignored. |
| Females in estrus, usually around October 1, emit a scent which is attractive to bulls. The bulls sense the odor by lifting up their heads, curling back their lips and sniffing the air. This is called the Flehmen Response. There is an olfactory organ in the back of a moose's palate which determines if a cow has ovulated. |  |
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A mating pair will nuzzle muzzles. A bull will also stomp down the grass and dirt and urinate there. He will continue to stomp and splash around creating what is called a wallow. The cow may then stomp and roll in the wallow, absorbing his hormonal scent. This makes her attractive to him. |
The pair then begins a dance of sorts. They circle around each other. The bull strokes the cow's backside and withers with his muzzle. He sniffs and licks her to monitor her readiness to mate. The cow is highly vocal during this dance, making a prolonged, wailing, moan. The male makes short, deep grunts. When she ovulates, he begins trying to mount her. Mounting is very brief and may occur several times before successful mating occurs.
After mating, the bull and cow rest and eat together. This is one of the other times that moose may be seen together and are sometimes mistaken as a family, if her calf is with her also. Soon after that, the cow and the bull go their separate ways. Then, they eat and eat as much as they can before winter really takes hold. Both bulls and cows need enough stored up energy to get then through the snowy times ahead, when food is limited. Dominant bulls may have lost hundreds of pounds since they stopped eating for the rut. Also, most cows are now eating for two.
In late November, dominant bulls begin dropping their antlers to lighten their load, since they are no longer needed for this year's mating season. The rest of the male moose will drop their antlers as late as February.Again, the bull may rub his antlers on a tree to loosen the appendages. When the antler falls off, the site where it was attached to the head, called a pedicel, bleeds but heals within hours. Sometimes the antlers don't fall off together. A single antler may weigh 30 pounds or more. Imagine carrying around a lopsided 30 pounds on one side of your head! The other antler falls off soon enough. The antlers deteriorate quickly or are consumed by rodents for their calcium. The shedding of the antlers enables what nutrients the bull does ingest to support him during the winter instead of his antler growth.
Moose may migrate slightly in winter in search of food. The Eastern Moose (Alces alces americana) move upland to flat, open mountain tops where the wind keeps down the snow drifts. There they eat Christmas trees. The Shiras Moose (Alces alces shirasi) do the opposite. They leave the Teton Mountains for the flatlands of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Many Alaskan Moose (Alces alces gigas) leave the tundra for warmer, coastal regions. Many moose that live in a suitable habitat can remain within a few miles of their birth site for their entire lives. In Spring, the cycle begins again.
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