This is what I hear yelled at me as I exited my house the other day. My reaction time was ultra slow - which, come to think of it, was probably a very good thing - before I understood what she was talking about.I have been the worst example of safety behavior around moose this year, and this just takes the cake.
When I finally registered what the chick was yelling at me (I literally went, "Huh?" back at her) I was staring into the eyes of a moose.
After a moment's pause I smiled at the moose (never bad to be polite) and slowly moved to my car. Fortunately, moosie could care less what I was doing. She was chomping the shrubbery - the photo was taken from my car (and yes, that is the door I came out of!)
I think this moose I keep seeing around the neighborhood is the same one. My guess is its a young female, maybe her first winter on her own? That is stretching the limits of my moose knowledge, so I'm pretty open to being wrong.
In any case, just one more example of, "Hey America, DON'T DO THIS."
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Kerry Lauerman
gail williams
designanator
Leigh Bailey
natesmith124
Joan Walsh
Salon.com
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As an example of learning behavior in moose, some years ago the University of Maine was conducting research into moose diets. They hired a couple of guys who taught wild, adult bull moose to walk on a leash so that the researcher could follow along with a note pad recording everything they ate. It turns out that they eat a lot of different stuff, but the really interesting thing was the account of leash training. I wonder what she is learning in your neighborhood. One thing I hope that she is learning is the pattern of human comings and goings. I do not know whether Alaskan wardens will ultimately be called on to deal with her, but the likelihood that she will live an uneventful life goes up if she is not easily surprised. Guys I know who run dog sleds report trouble when surprising moose in the dark, and the moose appears to mistake the dog team for a wolf pack. The moose don't go after the humans, but will kill a bunch of dogs pretty quickly. Since we haven't had wolves around here for about a hundred years, this suggests an instinctual defensive response to canids, but no similar response to humans. If so, maybe she can learn to get along.