Life span: 15-25 years
Body length: 2.5-2.7 meters
Moose are large even toed herbivorouse mammals, the largest of the deer family, Cervidae.
Moose vary in size and shape. Their color varies from light brown to dusty black depending on the season and the age of the animal. Young calves are often a light rusty color. The moose has a long nose, droopy lip, hump at the shoulders, and a small tail. The flap of skin that hangs beneath the throat is called a bell.
Males weigh on an average over 1200lbs and females often weigh over 400kg. New born calves weigh around 15kg but quikly increase in size. An alaskan Moose, One of the largest sub-group, discovered in 1897 holds the record for being the largest known modern deer. It was a bull standing 2.34 meters and weighed 816kg. Its rack was 199cm.
The other end of the size scale is the smaller shiras moose, also known as the Wyoming or Yellowstone moose. The moose that are native to Montana.
Height at the shoulders generally ranges between 6.5-7.5 feet. Only the males have antlers, massive flattened ones averaging 160cm across and 20kg in weight. These antlers have as many as 30 tines, the shape differing from animal to animal.
Matured males shed their antlers once a year in november/ december and replace them with new large ones. They are formed of living tissue supplied by blood through a network of vessels covered with a soft smooth skin called velvet. Eventually the tissue solidifies, the velvet is scraped off and the antlers become completely formed of mineralized dead matter. Their function is for display during the mating season and dominance within the herd.
