There are no longer enough moose in the state of Minnesota for people to hunt, so hunting them is no ok. There are only about 4,000 moose left in Minnesota. However, there are millions of moose in other countries like Norway and Sweden.
See if your child remembers how tall and how much a full grown male moose gets! (6 feet tall and about 9 feet long, weighing around 1,200 pounds)
Moose only eat plants. They especially love the plants that they find underwater. See if your child can remember how many pounds of food each day they want to eat. (60 pounds, although they aren't always able to find and eat that much.)
In the winter they eat sticks and bark. See if your child can tell you what effect that has on their teeth. Moose usually lose a couple of hundred pounds in the winter.
In winter moose grow another layer of fur. It is like when we put on gloves. It helps the moose not feel the cold and snow.
Most people think that the moose's antlers are their primary source of defense. All moose use their hooves to defend themselves. See if your child can tell you what three animals in Minnesota are most likely to attack a moose. (big bears, wolves and cougars)
A moose's antlers weigh about 40 pounds each. They swing their head down low back and forth to protect themselves.
See if your child can tell you how old a very old moose will live to be. (20 years)
Baby moose weigh about 30-40 pounds when they are born. They gain 500 pounds in 6 months! They have to be ready for winter. They live with their mom 1 year.
The antlers on a moose are made of bone. The velvet on the growing antlers is like hairy skin. It covers the antlers and gives it blood to help the antlers grow. When it is time for the velvet to come off, it starts to itch, so the moose rubs the velvet off. See if your child can tell you why little animals like mice like to eat away at a moose's antlers. (There is calcium in the antlers.)
In the winter the male moose get rid of their antlers because it is harder to move through the trees and the antlers take up a lot of their energy (to carry and move around).
It was a great presentation!
When I went to Alaska, I saw moose all over. It was kind of like deer are here. In one place there were about 30 moose all eating at a river-- including babies. It was AMAZING!
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