- Life span: 15-25 years
- Body length: 2.5-2.7 metres
- Moose are large even-toed herbivorous mammals, the largest of the
deer family.
- Moose vary in size and shape.
- Their colour varies from a little brown to a dusty black depending
on the season and age of the animal. Calves, in comparison, are often
a light rusty colour.
- Moose have long, lighter-colored legs with the front pair longer
than the hind ones.
- Other features include a long nose, drooping lip, hump at the shoulders
and small tail.
- The flap of skin that hangs beneath the throat is called a BELL.
- Males weigh on average over 550 kg (1200 lbs) and females often more
than 400 kg (900 lbs). New born calves weigh around 15 kg but quickly
increase in size, around 300 or 400 pounds by its first winter. Height
at the shoulders generally ranges between 6 ½-7 ½ feet
(over 2 metres).
- Only the males have antlers, massive flattened ones averaging 160cm
across and 20kg in weight
- These antlers have as many as 30 TINES (or spikes), the shape differing
from animal to animal.
- A young moose's first pair of antlers grow from two tiny bumps on
their head that they have had from birth
- Mature males shed their antlers once a year in November/December and
replace them with new larger ones in the Spring
- A moose's teeth are specially designed for eating plant materials
and for browsing on bushes and small trees.
- In all they have 32 teeth made up of 12 ridged molars, 12 premolars,
6 incisors and 2 canines:
- Moose have 27 pairs of chromosomes compared with 23 pairs in humans.
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