“Moose are the largest deer in the world.”
Moose are the largest living deer, built for northern forests with long legs, a heavy muzzle, and broad palmate antlers on adult males. They browse woody plants on land and wade into lakes for aquatic vegetation, often living alone outside the breeding season.
By An Nguyen · Published · Updated
Browse photographs of moose across habitat, behavior, anatomy, and life stages.
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Core article
A closer look at habitat, diet, behavior, reproduction, and conservation.
The moose (Alces alces) is the largest member of the deer family (Cervidae) and an icon of the northern forest. A bull can stand over six feet at the shoulder and carry palmate antlers six feet across, yet the same animal will wade neck-deep into a lake and dive to the bottom for water plants. Built for deep snow and hard cold across the taiga of North America, Europe, and Asia, the moose is far more capable — and more aquatic — than its ungainly look suggests.
Everything about a moose is scaled for cold, deep-snow country. Its stilt-like legs step over drifts, and wide cloven hooves spread its weight like snowshoes on snow and bog. Its bulbous, blood-rich nose works as a heat exchanger, warming frigid air before it reaches the lungs. The signature feature is the bull's palmate (open-hand-shaped) antlers, up to six feet across and 40 pounds, grown under a skin of "velvet" over a single summer, hardened for the autumn rut, then shed and regrown every year — one of the most energy-expensive displays in the animal world. Bulls run 800 to 1,500 pounds, well above the cows.
Moose are holarctic, living across the boreal forest (taiga) and mixed forests of the far north — Canada, Alaska, the northern U.S., Scandinavia, Poland, and Russia. Their ideal ground is a mosaic: dense forest for shelter from wind and snow, threaded with wetlands, lakes, and rivers. Those waters are not optional. A moose's huge body overheats easily, so it needs water and shade to cool in summer, and wetlands also supply mineral-rich aquatic plants it cannot get on land.
The name "moose" comes from an Algonquian word meaning "twig eater," and that is the winter diet — a ruminant stomach lets it ferment woody browse, and it strips 40 to 50 pounds of willow, birch, aspen, and fir twigs, bark, and buds a day in deep cold. In summer the strategy flips to water. Moose are strong swimmers that wade in and even submerge up to 20 feet to feed on water lilies, pondweed, and horsetails — plants loaded with the sodium and other minerals that woody browse lacks, making aquatic feeding a genuine physiological necessity for electrolyte balance and antler growth.
Unlike herd deer, moose are largely solitary — their food is too scattered in the boreal forest to support big groups, and the only lasting bond is a cow with her calves. They are surprisingly fast and agile for their size, hitting 35 mph in a burst, and are most active at dawn and dusk. Everything changes in the September–October rut: bulls stop feeding, dig urine-soaked "wallows" to advertise themselves, and clash antlers in shoving matches that can occasionally leave rivals injured or fatally locked together.
After about eight months' gestation, a cow gives birth in late spring to one or two calves — twins signalling a well-fed mother and good habitat. Calves are precocial, standing and nursing within hours and following the cow in days, and she defends them fiercely, hammering wolves or bears with her front hooves. Fed on rich milk they grow fast, weaning at about five months but staying through the first winter to learn foraging, then are driven off just before the next calf arrives. Wild moose live 15 to 20 years.
Globally the moose is Least Concern, with millions across its range, but regional declines are real. Wolves and bears take many calves, yet the sharpest modern threat is climate warming. Adapted to deep cold, moose suffer heat stress and burn energy seeking shade instead of feeding, and milder winters have let winter ticks explode northward — a single moose can carry tens of thousands, causing blood loss, emaciation, and hypothermia as it rubs off its insulating coat. Habitat fragmentation and vehicle collisions add pressure, so agencies track populations closely and manage hunting quotas.
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Mammalia
Order
Artiodactyla
Family
Cervidae
Genus
Alces
Species
A. alces
Moose are the largest deer in the world.
Only bull moose grow the huge wide antlers.
Moose are excellent swimmers and can dive for plants.
A moose's nose helps cool warm air in summer.
Calves can stand within hours of being born.
Moose are most active at dawn and dusk.
Select a question to reveal the answer.
A moose is a very large deer with long legs, a long face, and big antlers on males. It is the largest member of the deer family.
Moose live in northern forests and wetlands across Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia, Russia, and parts of Europe and Asia.
Moose eat leaves, twigs, bark, and water plants. They browse on land and wade into lakes to feed.
Adult moose can stand over 6 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh more than 1,000 pounds.
A baby moose is called a calf. Calves are born in spring and stay with their mother for about a year.
Bull moose grow antlers to compete for mates. They shed and regrow them each year.
Moose usually avoid people, but cows with calves and bulls in rut can be aggressive and should be given space.
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