What does a moose eat, what does it eat? Why is the moose elk: history of the issue? Indicate what the people call the moose.

Elk or elk is a cloven-hoofed mammal. Of all the species of the deer family, this animal is the largest in size. The average body length of a mature elk is 300 cm, the height at the withers is about 220 cm, and the weight can reach up to 600 kg.

Appearance

Concerning appearance, then the elk has some differences from the deer. The animal has a relatively short body, long strong limbs, wide thoracic region and a large head with a swollen upper lip. In addition, moose have movable ears that can turn in many directions.

At the bottom of the elk’s throat there is a leathery outgrowth 30-35 cm long; it is a distinctive feature of the elk. The structure of the animal's horns resembles a wide flat shovel, which is slightly concave. Along the edges of this shovel there are about 18 uniform processes. However, sometimes the structure of the horn can change: with a small plane of the base, rather long processes grow, or at the base itself a process grows, which bifurcates towards the end.

On this moment the beast inhabits the territories of countries such as Norway, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Russia. If we consider Asia, then moose can be observed in the northern part of Mongolia, as well as in the northeastern zone of China. About half a million individuals are found in Canadian forests, and in the United States the number of moose is quite small, although 30 years ago there were about 40-50 thousand of them there.

Sometimes you can find moose that have antlers like deer - without shovels, with a short trunk and shoots slightly bent up and back. The animal's fur is brown-black, and the lower half of its limbs are light gray.

Why elk?

So, to understand why the elk is moose, we should turn to the meaning of such an old word as plow. This item was an agricultural tool that was previously used to plow the land. The very first plow was an ordinary wooden spear or branch with many branches. To make the weapon more durable, one end was sharpened and burned in a fire, and a little later they began to attach a metal tip to it. Even in ancient times, there was such an adjective as “forged,” which meant “twisting, forked.” Since the elk has rather branched and forked antlers, this nickname has become very firmly attached to it. In addition, it should also be noted that the word “forged” in Rus' was applied to animals belonging to the deer family, as well as to cows. That's why the elk is called elk.

Habitat, food and lifestyle

Moose have a fairly extensive habitat, stretching from Eurasia to North America. However, scientists noticed 2 stages of reduction in the habitat of animals in Europe: at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th centuries. Special conservation measures, the extermination of wolves, and rejuvenation of forest plantings helped restore the habitat. As a result, moose began to disperse to the southern and southwestern zones between 1920 and 1940.

The main food for moose are tree branches, grass, mushrooms and algae. They have a special affinity for the latter, so they quite often visit bodies of water, where they not only look for their favorite food, but also take refuge from annoying summer insects.

In Russia, moose can be observed in almost all places: from willow forests located near the coast steppe rivers and lakes, to birch and aspen forests, which are located in the forest-tundra. In tundra and steppe zones elk are capable of moving away from the forest over fairly long distances, sometimes several tens and hundreds of kilometers. In mountain forests, animals prefer valleys and slopes and are practically not found in rough terrain.

In the summer season, moose can be observed in cutting areas, as there is a considerable amount of grass and deciduous trees which animals eat as food. In particular, the animal loves such a plant as fireweed. As a habitat, animals also prefer swampy forest areas where there are rivers and streams.

Moose prefer a solitary lifestyle, so they do not tend to form groups even during mating season. Since their basis diet are branches of trees and shrubs, then in some forest nurseries these animals are classified as pests, because over the winter they are capable of destroying about 2 hectares of young pines.

Most adults, not to mention children, confuse the beautiful carriers of branched antlers: deer and elk. Biologically speaking, they are actually members of the same deer family. But it’s not for nothing that these beauties were divided into two different subfamilies.

Deer are smaller in size than elk. The horns also correspond to the general grace of these animals and beautifully branch into various directions. A certain pride and stature comes from the deer.

Elk is a large, massive mammal. The height is up to two meters at the withers, and the weight of representatives of this subfamily is up to 0.5 tons. To carry such a mass, you simply need powerful, hardy legs and a strong torso. By the way, hunters call moose of different sexes bull and cow because of the similarity of their muzzles to these artiodactyls.

But most distinctive feature This subfamily of deer has steel antlers. Huge, shovel-shaped and reminiscent of an agricultural tool - a plow. For its similarity to this instrument, the moose is often called elk.

The reader is now familiar with the differences between these different representatives deer and will not confuse elk with deer even if they are mistakenly presented on television. I hope we answered your question: “Why is the elk called elk?”

1) Existing etymology

A) Wiktionary

Root: -soh-; suffix: -at; ending: -y. Meaning: with many branches; branched, forked; simple o horned elk, with branched antlers. Etymology - no.

B) Etymological dictionary of the Russian language for schoolchildren./Compiled by. M.E. Ruth. - Ekaterinburg: U-Factoria, 2003. Origin of words. Animal names
http://netnotes.narod.ru/interest/t8.html

“Sokhaty” (elk) is so named for its horns; his name is the same root as the word “plow” (from ancient times a plow was a tree with a sharp branch that ripped up the ground, but the primary meaning of the root word “plow”, apparently, was “horn”).

B) Linguistics; http://genling.ru/books/item/f00/s00/z0000014/st010.shtml

Yuri Vladimirovich Otkupshchikov - To the origins of the word, Leningrad, 1968

“Thus, it turns out that the elk is an animal with a plow or a large plow. But a plow is an agricultural tool that used to plow the land. And now the ploughshare, or the part of the plow that cuts the layer of earth from below, is called a coulter. The Gothic* word hoha [khbha], akin to the Russian word plow, also had the meaning “plow”.

But why did the moose need the plow - not to plow the land?! And here again the object itself, denoted by this word, comes to the aid of the etymologist. The oldest plow was a large, branched branch of a tree. One end of the plow was sharpened and burned for greater strength on fire. Later they began to attach a metal tip to it. In the history of agriculture, the plow was, as it were, an intermediary between a simple stick for loosening the earth (a primitive hoe) and a modern plow.

This "biographical" data relating to ancient history plows are reflected in the language. So, for example, one of the closest “relatives” of the plow - the word staff reminds us of that primitive hoe or, more precisely, of that pointed stick with which our distant ancestors cultivated the land before sowing. And the diminutive word bipod “stick, stand with a fork” leaves no doubt about the original meaning of the word plow. Finally, the Lithuanian word saka [shaka] “branch, bough” and some other foreign language “relatives” of our word allow us to definitively establish its origin. Now it becomes completely clear why the elk was called elk: for its branched, forked antlers.”

2) Application of the term in Russian

A) Dictionary of the Russian language of the 11th-17th centuries, M., RAS, 2002.

Http://etymolog.ruslang.ru/doc/xi-xvii_26.pdf

* Sokha (Skha). 1. A stake, a stick with a fork at the end. Ostrm. Evan. 1057 4. Block, yoke (1318). On Saturday morning you laid a plow from a heavy tree on Saint Michael’s neck. Horn. years. XV century

* Sokhaty. 1. The elk animal is an elk. “Between us, we have volosts and volosts with demarcated estates...where to hunt eagles.” (Turin.) Slb. Sib. 1635 2. Sokhatoy, elk. “There are also elk, eel, wapiti and the like.” (Sib. Chronicles), Slb. Sib. XVII century

B) National Corpus of the Russian Language

V. F. Zuev. Extracts from the textbook “The Outline of Natural History” (1785)
“The elk, elk, is the size of a horse, but the neck is not so wide, but rather round; the head is large, the nostrils and mouth are spacious; ears are large; the body is pot-bellied, the legs are long and thin; The fur is yellowish-gray, whiter under the belly.”

3) Generalization and conclusion

* So, the term is fixed in Russian literary language from the beginning of the 17th century, no other data could be found, most of the mentions are in the Siberian chronicles and acts.

* After the “Troubles” at the beginning of the 17th century in Russia, the colonization of Siberia was of a “service” nature. In 1615, the Siberian Order was created, which formalized new procedures for managing the colonized lands, and by the middle of the 17th century, Russian pioneers reached Pacific Ocean. The main goal of the development of Siberia was to obtain valuable fur fur-bearing animals (sables, 1/3 of treasury income) and searches for precious metals and minerals. In 1686, the first smelting of silver from Argun or Nerchinsk silver ores was carried out in Nerchinsk.

Together with the “service people” and “children of the boyars”, Western mercenaries (prisoners of different nationalities - “Lithuania” and Jews), as well as Orthodox missionaries, also moved to the east; only about 9-10 thousand people. in the 17th century. The elk was of interest to pioneers and settlers primarily as a game animal, a hunting object that provided a lot of meat. Judging by written sources, at the end of the 16th – beginning of the 17th century, a special (Siberian) zoonym took shape – elk; this term is not recorded in Russian chronicles (the term “elk” dates back to approximately the 12th century).

* Encyclopedia of Animals; http://www.animalsglobe.ru/los/

“The horns of an elk have a characteristic shape: the base of the horn (trunk) is short, from it the processes spread forward, to the sides and back in a semi-fan, the trunk is connected to the processes by a flattened part - a “shovel.” For this shape, the elk received the nickname “elk.”

It is advisable to consider the term in connection with the terminology of the sacred language of Judeo-Christianity - Hebrew and biblical images.

4) Hebrew terminology and biblical image

A) Terminology

Let's put the term in a form close to Hebrew grammar and highlight the roots - SOKHATYY = SOKH+AT+YY; We immediately stand out two Hebrew terms - COX branch and ET spade.

* SOH+AT+Y = Hebrew. SOH, SOHA (Talmudic term, through the letter "samekh") branch; Hebrew SOKH, SOKHA branch, branch (biblical word, through the letter "shin-sin") + ET shovel, ploughshare, plowshare, hoe, pickaxe (biblical term); those. horns (branches) in the shape of a spade (flattened, shield).

B) Biblical image

* SOKH, SOKHA (branch, branch)

Judges 9:48: “And Abimelech went up to Mount Selmon, he and all the people that were with him, and Abimelech took axes with him, and cut branches (SOHA) of trees, and put them on his shoulders.”

Judges 9:49: “And every one of all the people cut down branches (SOCHAH), and they went after Abimelech, and laid them to the tower, and with their help they burned the tower with fire, and all that were in the tower of Shechem died, about a thousand men and women.”

*ET (shovel, pickaxe, hoe, plowshare, ploughshare)

* Isaiah 2:4: “And He will judge the nations, and rebuke many nations; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares (ET), and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

* Joel 3:10: “Beat your plowshares (ET) into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say: “I am strong.”

Thus, “forged” is an allegory, an allegory, the word contains a hidden meaning, a sensual expression of the idea of ​​an animal in an artistic and philosophical way. In the Siberian wilderness of the 17th century, as the historical and linguistic facts available to us show, there were people capable of manipulating biblical terms and creating new (and complex) concepts of the Russian language on their basis - intellectuals.

The zoonym "soh+aty" is a transliteration (translation of a word in another alphabet) of two Hebrew terms; borrowed from the biblical vocabulary. The images and terms of the Bible migrated from the original Jewish texts and became Russian vocabulary; the same linguistic process occurred constantly in other European languages.

Elk, also known as elk, is a mammal that belongs to the order Artiodactyla, suborder Ruminantidae, family deer, genus elk (lat. Alces).

The name "elk" presumably comes from the Old Slavonic "ols", indicating the red color of the coat that newborn elk calves have. Another common name for elk in Rus' since ancient times, “elk,” apparently arose due to the similarity of its antlers with a plow, an ancient agricultural tool.

Elk - description, characteristics, structure. What does a moose look like?

Elk is the largest representative of the deer family. The height of the elk at the withers ranges from 1.70 to 2.35 m, the body length reaches 3 m, and the weight, depending on the sex, varies from 300 to 600 or more kilograms. Some sources indicate Weight Limit elk weighing 825 kg. Males are usually larger in size than females. Females weigh approximately 200-490 kg.

Moose are a little clumsy in appearance: long-legged, with a short body. They have a powerful rib cage and shoulders. Elk legs are long, not thin, with narrow, long hooves. The tail is short but noticeable. The head is heavy, up to 500 mm in length, hook-nosed.

There are large, very mobile ears on the head, a swollen upper lip hangs over the lower lip, and under the throat there is a soft leathery outgrowth, an “earring,” 25–40 cm long.

Moose fur consists of coarser long hairs and soft undercoat. In winter, the fur grows up to 10 cm in length. On the withers and neck, the hair is longer, in the form of a mane, and reaches 20 cm, which is why it seems that the animal has a hump. The softer hair growing on the head even covers the lips of the mammal, only on the upper lip between the nostrils there is a small bare area.

Elk are brownish-black or black on the upper body, which fades to brown on the lower body. The back of the body, croup and buttocks have the same coloring as the rest of the body: the so-called tail “mirror” is absent. The lower part of the legs is whitish. In summer, moose are darker in color than in winter. The length of the animal's tail is 12-13 cm.

Front teeth on upper jaw there are no elk, but they are compensated by 8 incisors per lower jaw. Animals also have 6 pairs of molars (molars) and 6 pairs of premolars (small molars), which are used for chewing food.

Moose swim well (they can swim up to 20 km) and run quite fast. The speed of the moose reaches 55 km/h.

Moose have the largest antlers of any mammal. They reach a span of 180 cm and weigh up to 20 kg. The horn consists of a short trunk and a wide, flat, slightly concave blade, which is bordered by up to 18 processes. The number of shoots, their length, as well as the size of the shovel itself are different for moose of different ages. The older the elk, the more powerful its antlers, the wider the shovel, and the shorter the shoots on it. Young elk calves only grow small horns a year after birth.

Initially, elk antlers are soft, covered with delicate skin and fur. There are blood vessels inside the horns, so the horns of a young animal can hurt when insect bites and bleed when wounded, which naturally causes pain. A year and 2 months after the birth of the animal, the horns harden and the blood supply to them stops. In the fifth year of life, the elk's antlers (antlers) become large, powerful and heavy: the shovel becomes wider and the shoots on it become shorter.

When does an elk shed its antlers and why?

In November - December, the elk sheds its old antlers. This process does not cause pain to the animal, but only brings relief. To get rid of antlers as quickly as possible, elk rub their antlers against trees. In April - May, the animal begins to grow new antlers, which finally harden by the end of July, and in August the moose clears them of their skin. Females do not have horns.

An elk needs antlers not for protection from predators, as it might seem, but only for a mating ritual. They attract females and scare away rival males. At the end of the mating season, they lose their function, and the elk sheds its antlers. This makes his life easier, since in winter it would be difficult to move with such a weight on his head.

And yet, why do the horns fall off? The fact is that after the mating season, the amount of sex hormones in the elk’s blood decreases, as a result, cells appear at the base of the horns that destroy bone matter and weaken the attachment point of the horns to the skull. Eventually the horns fall off. Shed elk antlers, which contain a lot of protein, are eaten by rodents, birds and predators or softened in marshy soil.

Where does moose live?

Moose are common in the Northern Hemisphere. The now numerous moose population 19th century was completely destroyed in Europe, excluding Russia, and only as a result of conservation measures taken at the beginning of the 20th century, these animals again settled in Northern and Eastern Europe. Now on the European continent, moose live in the countries of the Scandinavian Peninsula (Finland, Norway), in the north of Ukraine, in Belarus, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the Baltic countries (Latvia, Estonia), in Russia: from the Kola Peninsula in the north to the southern steppes. In Asia, they occupy the taiga zone of Siberia, reaching the forest-tundra, as well as the Far East, northeast China, and northern Mongolia. IN North America Moose live in Canada, Alaska and the northeastern United States.

Concerning natural areas habitats, moose usually settle in coniferous and mixed forests with swamps, quiet rivers and streams; in the forest-tundra - along birch and aspen forests; along the banks of steppe rivers and lakes - in floodplain thickets; in mountain forests - in valleys, on gentle slopes, plateaus. The elk prefer forests with dense undergrowth and young growth, avoiding tall, monotonous forest areas.

Moose live more or less sedentary and do not move around too much. Making short journeys in search of food, they remain for a long time within the same area.

In summer, the area where elk live and feed is wider than in winter. From places where snow cover reaches 70 cm or more in winter, mammals migrate to less snowy areas. This is typical for the regions of the Urals, Siberia, and the Far East. The first to leave are the moose cows with their calves, followed by the males and females without offspring. In the spring, moose return to their usual habitats in the reverse order.

Moose live mostly alone or in small groups. In winter, animals gather in herds in places where there is more food and less snow.

Such favorable places, in which there is a lot of food and a lot of individuals gather, are called a “camp” in Russia, and a “yard” in Canada. In the spring, the moose disperse again.

What does moose eat?

Elk is a herbivore that feeds on trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants, mosses, lichens, mushrooms. The type of food changes with the changing seasons. In summer, the main food of animals is leaves of trees and shrubs, aquatic plants, and grasses. It is best for elk to eat the leaves of aspen, rowan, ash, maple, birch, buckthorn, bird cherry, and willow. Mammals also love marsh, aquatic and semi-aquatic plants: water lilies, egg capsules, marigolds, horsetails. In spring and early summer they are large quantities eat sedge. Among the herbs they prefer are tall, juicy umbrella herbs, fireweed or fireweed, and sorrel growing in burnt areas and clearings. By the end of summer, moose eat mushrooms, blueberry branches and lingonberries with berries. In the fall, moose's diet also includes bark and fallen leaves. In September, animals begin to bite shoots and branches of trees and shrubs, and by November they almost completely switch to tree food: branches, pine needles, bark. In the first half of winter, moose prefer to feed on deciduous trees and shrubs, and in the second half, on coniferous trees. Winter food for moose includes raspberries, pine, willow, fir, and rowan. Animals also eat bark during a thaw, or in the southern regions, where it does not freeze as much as in the north, they eat lichens, finding them on trees during a thaw or on the ground under the snow. From under the snow, mammals also obtain rags of sedge and berry bushes. In winter, moose drink very little water and do not eat snow so as not to lose heat.

IN different parts habitat, elk can consume a variety of foods. Very often, animals in one region do not eat food at all, which they eat with pleasure in another region. An adult moose eats up to 35 kg of food per day in summer and 12-15 kg in winter.

In addition, moose love salt very much and visit natural or artificial salt licks almost everywhere: they gnaw salt-rich soil, lick stones, and drink brackish water. Salt licks serve as a source of minerals for moose.

Moose do not have a specific feeding or resting time during the day. In the summer, with the appearance of blood-sucking insects (mosquitoes, horseflies, midges) and the onset of heat, they rest more during the day, lying down in cool or damp places, in clearings where the wind blows, lie in shallow waters, and periodically go into water up to their necks. They feed mainly at dawn or at night. In winter, periods of feeding and rest alternate several times a day. During severe frosts, elk lie down a lot, sinking into loose snow, wandering into the thicket under the cover of young coniferous trees. During the rut, animals are active at any time of the day.

Why does moose eat fly agarics?

Life expectancy of moose

The life expectancy of moose under favorable conditions is 20-25 years. But in nature this period is much shorter and often does not exceed 10 years. Most moose die early: from natural enemies, wolves and bears, from disease, at the hands of people for whom elk is the most important game animal, they drown while crossing rivers during ice drift. Young moose calves cannot withstand the cold during long springs.

Types of moose, photos and names

The genus of moose has always been considered to consist of one species - elk (lat. Alces alces). Within the species, several American, European and Asian subspecies were distinguished. Thanks to modern advances in genetics, a new classification has been defined, according to which the genus moose (lat. Alces) there are 2 species: European elk and American elk. The number of subspecies is still undetermined and will likely change.

• View Alces alces(Linnaeus, 1758) - European elk (eastern)
  • Subspecies Alces alces alces(Linnaeus, 1758) - European moose
  • Subspecies Alces alces caucasicus Vereshchagin, 1955 - Caucasian elk
• View Alces americanus(Clinton, 1822) - American Elk (Western)
  • Subspecies Alces americanus americanus(Clinton, 1822) - eastern Canadian moose
  • Subspecies Alces americanus cameloides(Milne-Edwards, 1867) - Ussuri elk

Below is a description of the current species of moose.

• European moose (Alces alces )

In Russia it is often called elk. The length of the elk reaches 270 cm, and the height at the withers is 220 cm. The European elk weighs up to 600-655 kg. Females are smaller in size. The color of the animal is dark or black-brown, with a black stripe on the back. The end of the muzzle and legs below are light. The upper lip, belly and inner parts of the legs are almost white. In summer the color is darker. Moose antlers with a well-developed spade, up to 135 cm in span. The European moose lives in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, the European part of Russia, the Urals, Western Siberia to the Yenisei and Altai.

• American Moose ( Alces americanus)

Sometimes this species is called East Siberian. It has a multi-colored color: the upper body and neck are rusty or gray-brown; the belly, lower sides and upper parts of the legs are black. In summer the color is darker, in winter it is lighter. The weight of an adult moose varies from 300 to 600 kg or more. Body dimensions are approximately the same as Alces Alces. Moose antlers have a widely divided spade. The anterior process, separated from the shovel, branches. The span of the horns reaches more than 100 cm. The width of the shovel reaches 40 cm. The American moose lives in Eastern Siberia, on Far East, in Northern Mongolia, in North America.

Moose breeding

Moose are ready to breed in their 3rd year of life. The mating period begins in August - September and lasts about two months, sometimes it can only end in November. A male rarely has more than one female during the rut. On moose farms It has happened that one male has impregnated several females, but this is not typical.

During the rutting period, moose lose caution and wander along the roads. Males begin the rut with a dull moo, “moan” or roar in the mornings and evenings, they are aggressive, they break branches and treetops with their horns, they can attack people, and they fight among themselves over the female. Mating occurs several times a day, very quickly, within a few seconds. The pregnancy of a moose cow lasts 225-240 days (according to some sources, up to 250 days). Calving lasts from April to July, depending on the habitat. A calf is usually born alone. Old females can have two cubs, one of which often dies.

A newborn moose calf has a light red uniform color. The baby gets up on his feet within a few minutes after birth, and after a few days he can freely follow his mother. A female moose usually feeds it with milk for 3.5-4 months, sometimes longer. Moose milk is similar to cow's milk, but it is fattier (8-13% fat), less sweet and contains 5 times more protein (12-16%). At birth, moose calves weigh from 6 to 16 kg, but they gain weight very quickly and increase it 10 times in six months.

Moose as a pet

There is a practice of domesticating moose. After the first feeding, a wild elk calf becomes attached to a person for life. Females easily get used to milking. Moose are very hardy animals; they can be harnessed to a sleigh and also ridden on horseback. They are indispensable in swampy taiga, difficult forests, and muddy roads. In summer, they can only be used for work at night, as animals can die from the heat. It is much colder in winter, so there is no such restriction.

Elk meat is less fatty and tougher than other deer meat, and is used in the production of raw smoked sausage and canned food.

Enemies of moose in nature

Among animals, moose have few enemies. WITH " forest giant“Not every animal can handle it. This is possible mainly for bears (brown and grizzly), as well as wolves. Bears attack moose in the snowy northern regions in the spring, when they emerge from their dens. Predators try to either watch for the elk or drive it into dense thickets, where it cannot fight off with its hooves. They can chase moose across the crust for many kilometers. Pregnant moose cows and newborn moose calves often become their prey, although females fiercely protect their offspring. There are cases when moose, in self-defense, killed or seriously injured the hooves of an attacking bear.

Another enemy of the moose is the wolf. Unlike bears, wolves hunt moose in areas with little snow in their habitat. In deep snow, a wolf will not catch even a teenage moose. A wolf does not attack an adult moose unless absolutely necessary. A powerful animal can easily kill him with its hoof. Therefore, wolves prefer to attack young animals and sick animals. Wolves hunt adult moose only in a pack, trying to come from behind.

The importance of other predators, which include wolverine and lynx, for moose is small. They can only harm very young, wounded, sick and exhausted animals.

Since ancient times, elk have been a game animal for humans. At the same time, humans are the main enemy for moose. People, even with the help of primitive weapons, were able to completely destroy moose in Western Europe to the 20th century. Currently, poachers are actively reducing the number of moose, as well as other ungulates. In addition, many moose get hit by cars. But the elk is not listed in the International Red Book and the Red Book of Russia. For now protective status animal is of the least concern.

What is the difference between elk and deer?

• The elk is the largest of the deer family; an adult elk weighs from 300 to 600 or more kilograms, and its height at the withers can reach 2.35 meters. Deer is a smaller animal. Its weight usually does not exceed 200 kg, and its height reaches 1.5 meters in large species.
• Elk legs are long and thin, widening at the hooves. A deer's legs are shorter and more proportional.
• The antlers of a deer develop vertically, while those of an elk develop horizontally and have a different structure.

Deer above, elk below

• Female moose, like female deer, do not have antlers. But among deer there is an exception: for example, female reindeer wear antlers, and water deer are antlerless, regardless of gender.
• As a rule, moose live separately, and among deer there are both solitary animals and herd animals.
• Elk spend a lot of time in the water, which is not typical for many deer. Although, for example, water deer live in swampy areas, are excellent swimmers and can swim several kilometers.

Deer on the left, elk on the right

• An elk cannot see a motionless person at a distance of several meters, but he has good hearing and sense of smell.
• In Siberia in the old days, in addition to the word “elk”, there was the name “beast”, applied to moose.
• During civil war in the 1st Cavalry Army Semyon Budyonny was special squad, whose fighters rode moose. These detachments were formed for the rapid movement of combat units in the difficult marshy areas of northern Ukraine and Belarus. Budyonny’s experience was also applied during the Soviet-Finnish war. Our elk fighters caused quite a stir among the Finns who happened to see them. Rumors spread among the Finnish soldiers that “the Russians had made a deal with the spirits of the forest.”
• Having discovered that moose droppings contain a lot of cellulose due to the fact that moose mainly feed on wood, the Swedes began to use it to produce environmentally friendly paper “Moose poopoopaper”.
• There has been a monument to the elk in Vyborg since 1928. According to legend, it was erected in memory of the elk who saved a group of lost hunters from a pack of wolves at the cost of his life.
• The calf becomes attached to the person who tamed it for life. A lost, tamed moose cow, having met her “breadwinner” in the taiga 2 years later, recognized him by his voice, followed him 10 km to the farm and stayed there to live.
• In heraldry, the elk is a symbol of endurance, strength and power.