The Immigrant Moose

Newfoundland has the World's Highest Moose Population Densities.

Newfoundland is an island. Beginning two million years ago, ice ages periodically enveloped most of North America, while glaciers scoured the island of its plant and animal life. The animals that are now native to Newfoundland made their way over from the mainland in the last 15,000 years by swimming, flying, or walking across the pack ice.

Nine of Newfoundland's fifteen native land mammals are distinct subspecies from their mainland relatives. Since the Europeans came, many deliberate or accidental introductions of animals valued for food or fur have occurred. Even today, new species are being brought to the island, or find their own way across the water and ice. One notable example is the moose.

The moose, Alces alces, standing higher than a large saddle horse, is truly a magnificent animal, and the world's largest living member of the deer family. They are found in North America from Alaska to Newfoundland, south into the northwestern United States, and in Europe and Asia from Norway to Mongolia. Called "moose" from the Cree Indian language, the animal is known as "elk" in Europe, a term that refers to an entirely different deer in North America.

NEWFOUNDLAND MOOSE

Not native to the island, the moose population in Newfoundland is nevertheless extremely healthy today and have increased their numbers to 120,000, many areas boasting the highest moose densities in the world. A bull and cow from Nova Scotia were released into central Newfoundland in 1878, later supplemented by two bulls and two cows from New Brunswick in 1904.

The Newfoundland moose is a massive animal with long legs, a large head, and an elongated, overhanging muzzle. A long flap of skin, called the bell, hangs beneath its throat. Despite an ungainly appearance, they are surprisingly agile, and are able to move swiftly through nearly impenetrable forest. Large bulls may be 3.1 m (10 ft) in length, plus a short tail, more than 2.3 m (7.5 ft) at the shoulders, and up to 825 kg (1,820 lb) in weight. Bulls typically have large, broad, spoon-shaped spiked antlers, which may be 1.8 m (6 ft) across. They are shed during the winter, begin to grow in early spring, and reach full size in August.

Moose usually browse in moist woods of willows, poplars, and birch, and are good waders and swimmers and so feed on aquatic vegetation. In winter, balsam fir is a diet staple but bark peeled from a number of other tree species as well. Otherwise solitary animals, favourable feeding areas may attract a number of moose together in a "yard", especially in winter. Most active during the twilight and early dawn, moose may be observed abroad at any time of the day or night, and sometimes wander into residential areas. A nighttime collision with a moose on the roads of Newfoundland is occasionally fatal to all involved.

In the rut or breeding season from mid-September to late October, bulls are very aggressive and curious, investigating any sound in the woods in seeking out and competing for the cows. After a gestation of eight months, usually one calf of about 14 kg (30 lbs) is born in late May or early June and remains with its mother until she calves again in the following spring. Such a yearling may weigh 180-225 kg (400-500 lbs.)

Portions abridged from The Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador