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I think if you’re not Canadian or American, it’s easy to underestimate how big moose are; apologies for the source but: https://www.buzzfeed.com/natalyalobanova

I think if you’re not Canadian or American, it’s easy to underestimate how big moose are; apologies for the source but: https://www.buzzfeed.com/natalyalobanova/guys-did-you-know-that-moose-are-really-big https://www.buzzfeed.com/natalyalobanova/guys-did-you-know-t... EDIT: Apologies, apparently we have them in Europe too

ejolto 3y ago
There are moose in Northern Europe and Siberia as well.
- marginalia_nu 3y ago
  Yeah. There's supposedly been schemes at developing moose cavalry. Which sounds silly as hell but would have been pretty terrifying. Like they're larger than a draft horse and very mobile in rough terrain.
goodcanadian 3y ago
Yes, I once just about walked into one while lost in thought when walking along a trail. I didn't see it because its chest was over my head; there were only legs in my line of sight.
- drclau 3y ago
  How did the encounter go? Don’t leave us hanging here!
  - vesinisa 3y ago
    Most moose encounters are entirely uneventful. Moose normally avoid / don't care about humans. That's why they are actually most dangerous to drivers - a high velocity moose crash is very dangerous for any vehicle smaller than a semi or van due to the anatomical mechanics of the moose body.
    - goodcanadian 3y ago
      I.e. You will take out the moose's legs, but the rest of injured, still living, moose will come through the windshield to join you in the passenger compartment.
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    Outside of mating season and when not appearing threatening typically 'just fine'. With young and whilst in mating season: avoid if you can. Seeing two bull moose crash into each other will give you all kinds of things to think about, such as what would happen to your car if one decided to plow into it. And they don't move slow either, they are very agile, probably much more so than you'd give them credit for if you haven't seen them in action. It's more like swordfighters than sumo wrestlers. edit: this is a good sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-7imHBlguk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-7imHBlguk
  - goodcanadian 3y ago
    I walked away quickly and so did it. I think it was just as surprised as me. It is certainly the closest I have been to a moose, but living in that area, I encountered them fairly often. They are usually pretty docile.
Broken_Hippo 3y ago
My first time seeing a moose was in a wheat field in Norway, though. The second time was on a Norwegian mountain.
singingboyo 3y ago
Semi-relevant, I've recently realised that fear of wildlife is actually cultural - large parts of the world are taught to fear/avoid smaller wildlife like snakes or insects, for poison/disease reasons. It works great in those places, but if they come to Canada they can see bobcats/mountain lions and think house cat, or other large mammals (moose, bison, elk) and just think they're cute and should be petted. Meanwhile growing up you're basically taught "look, don't touch" and "back away slowly" with regards to anything the size of a goose or bigger. This comes with lessons like don't mess with big/wild cats, and however large you expect the moose to be, it will inevitably be bigger. Of course, I'm sure there are areas of the world where that knowledge will completely miss the actual relevant risk(s). Probably something to do with spiders/snakes, as they're just generally harmless here.
cubefox 3y ago
It actually wasn't long ago that there was a similarly large type of wild animal around: The aurochs. The Eurasian variant of which was domesticated and resulted in the cattle of today. > The aurochs was one of the largest herbivores in Holocene Europe. The size of an aurochs appears to have varied by region, with larger specimens in northern Europe than farther south. Aurochs in Denmark and Germany ranged in height at the shoulders between 155–180 cm (61–71 in) in bulls and 135–155 cm (53–61 in) in cows, while aurochs bulls in Hungary reached 160 cm (63 in).[45] (...) The body mass of aurochs appears to have shown some variability. Some individuals reached around 700 kg (1,540 lb), whereas those from the late Middle Pleistocene are estimated to have weighed up to 1,500 kg (3,310 lb).[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs They went extinct in 1627. By the way, the European bison (Wisent) almost also went extinct. In fact it was extinct in the wild, when the last free-living exemplar was shot in 1927, three hundred years after the last aurochs. I assume the European moose / elk survived because it lived in colder, less populated regions.

ejolto 3y ago

There are moose in Northern Europe and Siberia as well.

marginalia_nu 3y ago
Yeah. There's supposedly been schemes at developing moose cavalry. Which sounds silly as hell but would have been pretty terrifying. Like they're larger than a draft horse and very mobile in rough terrain.

goodcanadian 3y ago

Yes, I once just about walked into one while lost in thought when walking along a trail. I didn't see it because its chest was over my head; there were only legs in my line of sight.

drclau 3y ago
How did the encounter go? Don’t leave us hanging here!
- vesinisa 3y ago
  Most moose encounters are entirely uneventful. Moose normally avoid / don't care about humans. That's why they are actually most dangerous to drivers - a high velocity moose crash is very dangerous for any vehicle smaller than a semi or van due to the anatomical mechanics of the moose body.
  - goodcanadian 3y ago
    I.e. You will take out the moose's legs, but the rest of injured, still living, moose will come through the windshield to join you in the passenger compartment.
- jacquesm 3y ago
  Outside of mating season and when not appearing threatening typically 'just fine'. With young and whilst in mating season: avoid if you can. Seeing two bull moose crash into each other will give you all kinds of things to think about, such as what would happen to your car if one decided to plow into it. And they don't move slow either, they are very agile, probably much more so than you'd give them credit for if you haven't seen them in action. It's more like swordfighters than sumo wrestlers. edit: this is a good sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-7imHBlguk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-7imHBlguk
- goodcanadian 3y ago
  I walked away quickly and so did it. I think it was just as surprised as me. It is certainly the closest I have been to a moose, but living in that area, I encountered them fairly often. They are usually pretty docile.

Broken_Hippo 3y ago

My first time seeing a moose was in a wheat field in Norway, though. The second time was on a Norwegian mountain.

singingboyo 3y ago

Semi-relevant, I've recently realised that fear of wildlife is actually cultural - large parts of the world are taught to fear/avoid smaller wildlife like snakes or insects, for poison/disease reasons. It works great in those places, but if they come to Canada they can see bobcats/mountain lions and think house cat, or other large mammals (moose, bison, elk) and just think they're cute and should be petted. Meanwhile growing up you're basically taught "look, don't touch" and "back away slowly" with regards to anything the size of a goose or bigger. This comes with lessons like don't mess with big/wild cats, and however large you expect the moose to be, it will inevitably be bigger. Of course, I'm sure there are areas of the world where that knowledge will completely miss the actual relevant risk(s). Probably something to do with spiders/snakes, as they're just generally harmless here.

cubefox 3y ago

It actually wasn't long ago that there was a similarly large type of wild animal around: The aurochs. The Eurasian variant of which was domesticated and resulted in the cattle of today. > The aurochs was one of the largest herbivores in Holocene Europe. The size of an aurochs appears to have varied by region, with larger specimens in northern Europe than farther south. Aurochs in Denmark and Germany ranged in height at the shoulders between 155–180 cm (61–71 in) in bulls and 135–155 cm (53–61 in) in cows, while aurochs bulls in Hungary reached 160 cm (63 in).[45] (...) The body mass of aurochs appears to have shown some variability. Some individuals reached around 700 kg (1,540 lb), whereas those from the late Middle Pleistocene are estimated to have weighed up to 1,500 kg (3,310 lb).[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs They went extinct in 1627. By the way, the European bison (Wisent) almost also went extinct. In fact it was extinct in the wild, when the last free-living exemplar was shot in 1927, three hundred years after the last aurochs. I assume the European moose / elk survived because it lived in colder, less populated regions.