Schwartz, University of Colorado Press, 2007), the authors state “Moose readily submerge underwater to feed on aquatics and can remain underwater for up to 50 seconds. In Ecology and Management of the North American Moose ( Albert W. What do the experts have to say? Two of the great moose reference books mention diving in passing, but do not go into any detail.
See evidence on Youtube of moose submerging themselves and feeding here and here. No other member of the deer family has been observed showing this behavior. But despite these two handicaps, we do know moose readily and frequently submerge their bodies entirely underwater in search of food. What would you do if you had to dive with a lifejacket on? You’d paddle your hands and feet like mad! But moose feet are cloven hooves – well-suited to spreading their weight over mud or snow, but you wouldn’t choose a moose hoof over a flipper for diving. (And if you have ever worn a life jacket on a hot sunny day without the chance to jump in the water to cool off, you know life jackets are also effective insulators!) There’s even more air in a moose’s large lungs. So the coat of a moose acts as a lifejacket, a constant force that tugs the moose to the surface. All the air molecules trapped in moose fur do what air wants to do in water – rise to the surface. This also makes moose fur tremendously buoyant. They have thick fur coats with long hollow hairs to insulate them down to temperatures of -60F. Moose have several strikes against their diving ability. Sloths are surprisingly good swimmers and even bats can swim, albeit not gracefully. They have been observed swimming long distances – over ten miles – in search of food and good habitat.īut just about any mammal can swim – including animals that you might think would instantly sink, such as pigs or armadillos. Olympic swimmers win medals above five miles per hour. High School swimmers hit three to four miles per hour. That sounds like no more than a jogging speed for humans, but most humans can only swim two miles per hour. They are capable of hitting speeds of at least six miles per hour. We also know moose are incredible swimmers, at least as hoofed animals go. A moose can stand in a river where a wolf would be swept away, and they are much faster swimmers than any of our local predators. Water is also a refuge in another way – with their long legs, moose will sometimes seek the safety of water to avoid predators. The cold waters of the GYE provide a welcome, and perhaps essential, refuge from the heat of a typical summer day. They are also prone to overheating – they are stressed by summer temperatures as low as 60F, though that depends on cloud cover. In summer, aquatic vegetation and riparian plants are the majority of their diet. So can moose really dive five to six meters?
But a moose has hooves and hardly any tail to speak of. They are definitely capable of diving to the bottom of a deep pond in search of food – their webbed feet are propellers, and their thick tails are rudders. But is it true? If you look at all the mammals that excel in swimming the waters of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), beavers and otters stand out as the best furred swimmers. “Did you know that moose can dive as deep as five meters?” This factoid is repeated by educators across the circumpolar range of Alces alces, and often is received amazement and maybe a few chuckles from the audience as they picture the gangly, awkward moose diving to a depth about twice as deep as the bottom of an average backyard pool.
#CANADA MOOSE PREDATORS WATER ANIMQLS PROFESSIONAL#
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