Imagine yourself shopping at Lowe’s for your home improvement project or maybe just walking along with a cup of coffee, enjoying the day when a crowd of people suddenly head to the parking lot with their phones out.
No local celebrity here. Just a moose giving birth in front of a parked Jeep. And yes, it happened in Anchorage, Alaska.
Only in Alaska.
Not something you would see in New York or Chicago. It’s fairly common to see bears and moose walking around Anchorage. It’s a testament to the place where they progress as a community without driving out nature and its inhabitants. Hello, little moose!
Females give birth in the spring with one or two calves. They will weigh in at around thirty pounds and in five days, can outrun a person. And that’s without dad around. Males leave after mating.
Oh deer me.
Moose are the largest of the deer family. They can weigh over 1,000 pounds while standing six feet tall at the shoulder. The males have antlers which they use to battle another bull for mating supremacy.
Now they may be massive and heavy but moose can swim several miles. Another trick they have is they can submerge themselves staying under for 30 seconds or more. Plus they can run at a speed of 35 miles. That’s a tank of a mammal.
This is too precious.
An adoring crowd has gathered, with everyone recording the moment on their phones. Easy to get carried away so local officials had to remind people not to get too close to the mother and her newborn.
The owner of the Jeep was kind enough to leave his car to allow the cow moose and her calf a moment to be alone. At least he got to save on gas.
Moose sighting, anyone?
This was easy. No need to pay for a guide or wait for hours. Go to Anchorage, sit at a nice cafe and wait. Just look at how cute that little moose baby is! Mama moose has a year with her baby before the calf goes solitary. They have a lifespan of twenty years but most of them start feeling old at twelve.
Moose require colder climates to survive. They can actually overheat which means they lose weight in the summer and breeding numbers go down. Warmer climates pose another problem for the huge herbivores. Ticks. Those blood sucking pests are a huge factor for declining moose population.
Add one more, mama!
Good thing this cow moose gave birth at this parking lot. She doesn’t know it but maybe she’s helped raise awareness to the moose family. People got to see her and her calf together and you never know, maybe this helped boost support for them.
Anchorage has around 1,500 moose. They are regulars in the city. People are bound to see them from the corner down to the next street. Newborns are sighted around May and since moose prefer cooler temperatures, it is in the morning and evenings when they are most sighted. So the next time you go to Anchorage, it might be this mama or her calf that you spot!
Check out mama and her calf in the video below!
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