Male European Elk feeding on birch tree leaves in the Scottish Highland Wildlife Park managed by the Edinburgh Zoo SCO 0928
The European Elk (also known as Moose) is by far the largest deer species, with tallest animals standing at the shoulder. Their palmated antlers, sometimes described as "paddles", are massive, stretching to 6'6" across in some cases. They have large bulbous noses that fall over the muzzle and are used as a miniature trunk. They are normally most active at dawn and dusk relying on acute hearing and sense of smell as their eyesight is poorly developed. They are prolific feeders needing to consume around 10kg of food a day! Moose typically inhabit boreal and mixed deciduous forests of the Northern Hemisphere in temperate to subarctic climates. In North America, the moose range includes almost all of Canada, most of central and western Alaska, much of New England and upstate New York, the upper Rocky Mountains, Northeastern Minnesota, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula and Isle Royale in Lake Superior. Isolated moose populations have been verified as far south as the mountains of Utah and Colorado. In 1978 a few breeding pairs were introduced in western Colorado, and the state's moose population is now more than 1,000. In Europe, moose are found in large numbers throughout Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Baltic States. They are also widespread through Russia. Small populations remain in Poland (Biebrza Nat. Park) and Belarus. Moose were successfully introduced on Newfoundland in 1904 where they are now the dominant ungulate, and somewhat less successfully on Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Ten moose were also introduced in Fiordland, New Zealand in 1910, but they were thought to have died off. Nevertheless, there have been reported sightings that were thought to be false until moose hair samples were found by a New Zealand scientist in 2002. In 2008 moose (or elk) were reintroduced in to the Scottish Highlands. SCO 0928
Size: 5380px × 3572px
Location: Scottish Highland Wildlife Park Kincraig Strathspey Inverness-shire Highlands UK
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., 1821, alces, animal, animalia, artiodactyla, artiodactyls, capreolinae, cervidae, cervids, chordata, class:, cloven, conservation, deer, ears, eat, eating, elk, europe, european, family:, fauna, feeding, food, fur, game, genus:, gray, hair, herbivorous, highlands, hoofed, horn, hunt, kingdom:, large, largest, mammal, mammalia, meat, moose, nature, neck, nutrition, order:, phylum:, plant, quarry, region, scotland, shoot, skin, species, species:, strathspey, subfamily:, tall, toed, uk, ungulates, wildlife
