12 interesting facts about moose

A few weeks ago, we visited a family moose farm, where we learned a lot of interesting facts about the king of Sweden's forests, including the fact that it's not the king that really matters, but the queen ;)

Once you've been there, it's possible that you'll meet them in the wild, so it might be useful to know a few things about them.

1. The weight of an adult, mature male can even reach the weight of the old Suzuki Swift, including the driver (850kg)

2. Males shed their antlers every winter and grow new ones next summer.

The antlers of the male in the picture above have now been sawed off on the closed farm so that he does not harm anyone, because during the mating season they also want to close the fence to reach the females.

3. In winter, while the antlers of the males are growing, they hide very softly in this way, because even the slightest blow to the antlers causes them great pain at this time. For older males, it is already more deformed and crooked.

4. Moose live alone. If you see more than one, it's probably a mother and her calf.

5. The annual mating period is the end of September and the beginning of October. In this case, the males are intensively looking for the females, which is why they even wander onto the highway or into smaller towns, as they have been in the news several times in recent weeks.

6. The moose usually gives birth to two offspring at the same time, which it carries under its heart for 245 days, almost as long as humans. When the new offspring comes, it sends away those raised until then .

7. Its enormous size is accompanied by a huge appetite. In summer, when there is a lot of fresh food in nature, they can eat up to 30 kg per day. In winter, since they find less food, they only eat about 15 kg of food per day.

8. Moose are born very good swimmers. Adults can swim up to 10 km/h, can dive up to 16 km at a time and up to 20 feet deep for aquatic plants at the bottom of lakes.

9. The largest population of moose lives in Canada, approximately 500 to 1 million moose. About 600,000 moose live in Russia. It is followed by the United States and Sweden with 400,000 each. Regardless, they don't often come across us on the road, even then, mostly during the September-October mating month and along very small roads.

10. They run faster than the fastest Olympic runner, so it's not worth running away from them. They are able to run over a long distance at nearly 56 km/h, making the moose significantly faster than the Olympic gold medalist sprinter Usain Bolt, who holds the record for the fastest man at a speed of 44.72 km/h.

11. He kicks you until you don't move... but really. This huge, usually peaceful and pious animal kicks hugely with its front legs when it feels threatened. He heads off, stomps on the ground and kicks and jumps on you until you're sure to stop moving. In this case, their instincts are very rough, so in the wild they should not be stalked, videotaped, or, God forbid, take the recently fashionable selfie, because you probably won't survive it.

12. The term "King of the Forests of Sweden" is not entirely correct, as males are much friendlier than females (except during mating season). Females, on the other hand, are either raising calves or pregnant, so in most cases they are quite wild and unpredictable.

The pictures above were taken on a multi-closed, family moose farm in Sweden, where you can get to know the king and queen of the forests during a one- or two-hour drive, and among many interesting things, you can also feed and pet them, since they were raised with people. In this form, you should never and cannot behave like this with a wild moose!!!

We met a male at the end of August, along a small road, on our way home. We looked at each other for 2-3 minutes, then he stopped and so did we. In the wild, this is the most common form of encounter.

-12 interesting facts about moose-

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