Life is Beautiful: Moose ! Moose !!!!!!

MOOSE

The moose or Eurasian Elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males, other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic("twig-like") configuration.

The male will drop its antlers after the mating season and conserve energy for the winter. A new set of antlers will then regrow in the spring. Antlers take 3 to 5 months to fully develop, making them one of the fastest growing animal organs. They initially have a layer of skin, called "velvet", which is shed once the antlers become fully grown. Immature bulls may not shed their antlers for the winter, but retain them until the following spring.

The largest of all is the Alaskan subspecies ( Yeah! Everything is biggest in Alaska), which can stand over 2.1m (7ft) at the shoulder (Yao Ming is 7ft 6 inch tall), has a span across the antlers of 1.8m (6ft) ad averages 634.5kg in males and 478kg in females. Typically, however, the antlers of a mature specimen are between 1.2m and 1.5m. The largest confirmed size for this species was a bull shot at the yukon river in September 1897 weighing 820 kg and was 92 inch tall the the shoulder. The Moose of alaska matches the extinct Irish Elk as he largest deer of all time. Behind only the Bison, the Moose is the second largest land animal in both North America and Europe. The life span of an average moose is about 15-25 years.

Alaska, where vehicles kill about 700 moose annually and trains kill about 120 a year. Those averages put state behind only Sweden, where 4000 to 6000 moose are road casualties each year. (According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game)