Elk - a ternopial mammal living in the forest zone. The population of this type of deer has one and a half million individuals living in the entire length of the forest zone of the northern hemisphere. In nature, there are up to eight subspecies of this forest inhabitant. Elk is the largest view of all deer. And also one of the largest animals among animals of their habitat. Average growth in the idol of adult male reaches two and a half meters, and the length of the body is up to three meters. The weight of an adult moose - from five hundred and fifty to six hundred kilograms. This forest giant consumes about eight tons of food annually. Where does the elk produce so much food, and how does it eat, especially in conditions of harsh winter?
Moose is found in the tundra, there they feed with ms and lichens, even in winter, getting them out of snow. In the steppe zone, the moose is also not uncommon - there is the basis of their ration grass and shrubs.
But the most adapted moose for habitat in the forest. For them, this is the natural and most comfortable habitat. Elk - Animal in food is unpretentious - he, in the literal sense, is at the foot of the stern, there is everything that the forest gives him. Everything goes in food - grass, leaves, bark, moss, needles. We like the branches and shoots of willow, aspen, rowan, birch and fir. The feature of the body of the elk is the constant need for branches and shoots of young trees, it is "Menu" in summer period It takes more than 50% in the diet of these animals.
Another feature of these herbivores is their love for water vegetation. Losi love to settle near water bodies - quiet rivers, forest lakes and swamps. Algae and coastal vegetation are one of their favorite delicacies. Diving for them, elk can delay the breath to two minutes, and the swimmer is excellent.
Still not indifferent moose to mushrooms. Prefer Sochant Mochoviki, stabberry and white. Interestingly, moose remember mushroom places and make them with their constant pasture. The proportion of mushrooms in the diet of the in the fall, when foliage and grass fading, lose their feeding, and mushrooms, on the contrary, are abundant. And further interesting fact - Mushroom toxins do not act on the moose, so they are glad to eat mugs!
The source of vitamins for elk is berries. Raspberry, lingonberry, cranberry, blueberries and blackberries - everything goes to food.
Salt for elk is a source of useful substances and is necessary in sufficient quantities in their diet. If it is not enough - the animal weakens and begins to root. Therefore, the moose can be found in salt marshes, where they lick the ground, thus saturating the body of salt. Knowing this feature of the soot, the foresters in reserves and hunting costs are arranged for them feeders, dried salt.
With low and soft winter, moose lead a settling lifestyle. If snow cover does not exceed the half meter, then they are quite capable of getting food from it. If the winter is multispered, then the moose is able to migrate in search of feed for considerable distances. But in any case, the basis of the winter 
The diet of these animals is a branch "Menu". The share of the branches of the shrub and shoots of young trees in the smear of the moose in the winter period increases to 85%.
The feed they are looking for a gentleman, the banks of the rivers and the lakes (here they are happy to eat Willow branches). But upon the occurrence of cold weather, when the air temperature drops below 20 ° C, moose seeking shelters in a dense forest, preferring conifers. They do not have a cold penetrating wind, and with food, too, everything is in order - although there are no favorite bids willow and Ryabin, but as their replacement moose consumes a cheva, fir branches, ate or juniper.
If in the winter with food becomes quite bad, then moose, confrontation in the flock, make enough long transitions. Every day a herd is capable of tent - fifteen kilometers. Going out to a comfortable and rich food pasture, moose can linger on it for several days until it is depleted. Such a pasture can be a birch or aminous grove, walled wings or rowan, in particularly cold winters - coniferous forests. Leave the panting site is also organized and moving further in search of feed.
Spring moose also prefer to migrate. This time they return to the place of their permanent summer pastures. Favorite their spring delicacy is a young needle, birch earrings and alder, fresh feces of willow. The young grass is also included in the mandatory spring diet of the moose. And the moose with pleasure eating flowers - snowdrops, valley, buttercups.
Elk is constantly in motion - moving from one pasture to another. Thanks to her great growth, he is easily able to reach the branches and young row trees and shrubs. The large sizes of this animal force it all the time to move in search of feed - in the summer, most favorable period, adult elk consumes more than thirty kilograms of feed. To satisfy such needs, so much all the time slowly moves from the tree to the tree, from the grove to the grove, which does not know the rest of the lonely forest giant.
Elk - truly a huge animal, so a particularly valuable object of hunting. The weight of the largest copies can be in the area of \u200b\u200bthe halftone, this is a large amount of delicious useful meat. In addition, the moose skin was used to sewing different products, and the horns are for crafts. Even in principle, get such a large beast - great pleasure. After all, this is a difficult task, which is on the shoulder to be hunters, well-known animal habits.
Elk is a mammal family of deer, has a body length to three meters, height on the withers is more than two meters, weighing 350-600 kg. Pretty long legs with big hooves connected by movable meathes, help move around uneven areas: swamps, burly. Also, the hooves serve to protect against predatory animals and other enemies. The blow of such a leg is very dangerous for a person.
It has powerful horns, which are expanded like shovels, and on the ends are divided into parts. The young males of the horns have smaller, with age, they increase and in an adult animal can reach 20-kilogram weight. The horns grow annually, starting with the spring, and it flips them to winter. Females horns do not have. Due to the similarity with the agricultural tool, hiding moose is called Sokhat.
Compared with long legs and a large muzzle, the body seems short, like the neck. The chest is very wide. On the back there is something like a hump in the area of \u200b\u200bthe ignition, the other horseshrobosity of cartilage adorns the face. The eyes are small, dull, stroke, long and wide ears. He hears well, but sees worse.
The wool is long, thick, consists of a thin ocean with a fluffy undercoat. There is a dark mane, which with the nape descends on the neck and chest. The main color of the wool is reddish-brown, in winter, lighter than in summer.
It lived almost throughout Russia, it is found in the forest zone of Eurasia, North America. It also lives in deciduous, and in coniferous forests, preferring the first. Although for each season he has more preferred places, it is connected with the feed base.
In the moose diet - more than 800 species of plants. These are herbs, shrubs, shoots coniferous and deciduous trees, branches. Over the year, one part on average eats up to 5 tons of various feed. Favorite delicacies - Willow, Osin, Ryabin, Oak, Pine. Loves birch, dandelions in the spring, as well as swamp canes and reeds. The muzzle is equipped with long lips that help to easily break the branches. The teeth deftly jumps the bark from the trees.
In addition to food, moose need a lot of water.
Autumn-winter migration depend on the height of the snow cover. When it increases, moose is sent to less snow-covered places, where it is easier to move and extract food. If snowproof does not exceed half a meter in this area, animals can lead a settling lifestyle.
Known by the love of moose to the water: they are happy to spend time in rivers and lakes, where they are saved from the gnus and heat. Interestingly, moose can eat not only coastal vegetation, but also water, diving after it and under water up to several minutes.
Else can be called lazy animals: they are pretty low. If most animals spend a lot of time for the feeder, after which they go to rest, it all alternates it. A couple of hours will quit, the same rules, again. Where to go to bed - he does not fundamentally, the place does not choose: it can fall into a swamp or on hard land. It doesn't like to leave the fodder seats, if everything is in order, no one worries, can live on a few hectares to live for two or three weeks. During the day, a kilometer passes, two, in winter, the truth is more. However, in the event of a danger or during a goh, it can overcome up to 30 km per day.
By character, this animal is not particularly careful, confident, not timid. The beast is considered somewhat clumsy: it often goes across the forest, because it allows the powerful body. Running, elk actually goes not immediately, preferring a step. Given the long legs, even such a way to move is quite fast.
Moose in nature hold one by one, sometimes in small groups. Most often it is a female and her small either grained elms that follow the mother. Amazing, but the young moose grows very quickly, overtaking even pets: the daily weight gain can be one and a half or two kilograms. So, for good conditions Animal weight can be:
In captivity, the lifespan of the moose can be 25 years old, but in natural conditions the maximum age is 15 years old, in the middle of the nature of the moose live 10-12 years.
Natural enemies are wolves, lynks, wolverines, bears. Wolverine and Lynx, although less elk, win him thanks to a sudden attack on top of the rear: they immediately snack the carotid artery. Wolves usually overcome salmon in winter timeWhen the last is weakened. And of course, the population of wolves reduces a person who hunts them.
The time when Losi lose their dimension and calm is a gon. It is usually happening at the end of the summer - the beginning of autumn. It lasts about two months. Male during this period is very nervous, irritated, restless. Better people do not meet with them at such a time. Often you can hear the voice of the moose. In general, it shouts rarely, low and very loud. However, during Gon, the voice of the moose resembles the sounds published by a noble deer, only shouts the mighty beast intermittently. So the male calls on the fight of rivals. Fights are very fierce, sometimes the horns suffer. Older deer often do not allow young people to females. This happens in the territories where the moose is more than melosh. And the more the ratio unequal, the stronger the rivalry.
Sometimes, on the contrary, less males, as they are often dying from the shots of hunters. Then the elix could take a walk with several loshy. Moreover, these animals are prone to monogamy, that is, the male may well spend time with one girlfriend. If it covers a few, then each it holds a week-other. Before it, it was calmly and politely cares, without aggression and pressure, waiting for the girlfriend to respond with favor. However, people, especially if moose with them are often found and are not afraid, they can be so aggressive that even attack.
The females are young about 37 weeks. In the first gods, they usually bring one baby, and then two, often all-choice. Often and the birth of triple. The kids appear in April. As most of the hoofs, immediately try to get up on their feet, barely mother licked them. First, they are unstable, Losika pushes and supports their muzzle. After three or four days, the offspring quite successfully runs behind the mother. Interestingly, it feeds the milk of the pulp for a long time, up to the next process. If we take into account that the youngsters grow fast, then by the end of the summer they already have to go to the ground to get to the widged udder.
Full maturity young moose achieved in two years.
Elk, he is sauhed - this is a mammal animal, which refers to the detachment of the man-fated, suburbs of ruminants, the family of deer, the genus Moose (Lat. Alces).
The name "Elk" presumably comes from the Old Slavonic "Olles", pointing to the red wool color, which have newborn elms. The name of the moose "Sauchtoo" called from ancient times in Russia, obviously arose due to the similarity of his horns with a dear, an ancient agricultural instrument.
Elk is the largest representative of the family of deer. The height of the moose in the withers is from 1.70 to 2.35 m, the body length reaches 3 m, and the mass, depending on the floor, varies from 300 to 600 or more kilograms. Some sources indicate the maximum moose weight of 825 kg. The males in size is usually larger than females. Females weigh by about 200-490 kg.
The moose is a bit clumsy in appearance: high-boiled, short torso. They have a powerful chest and shoulders. The legs of the moose are long, not thin, with narrow, long hooves. The tail is short, but noticeable. Heavy head, up to 500 mm long, barrel.
Large, very mobile ears are located on the head, the bloody upper lip hangs over the bottom, and under the throat there is a soft leather grown, "earring", 25 - 40 cm long.
The moose wool consists of smaller long hairs and soft undercoat. In winter, wool grows up to 10 cm long. On the withers and neck, the hair is longer, in the form of the mane, and reach 20 cm, which is why it seems that the animal has a hump. Soft wool growing on the head, even the lips of the mammal, only on the upper lip between the nostrils there is a small bare area.
Elk has brown-black or black color in the top of the body, which goes into a brown color at the bottom of the body. The back of the body, cereals and buttocks have the same coloring as the rest of the body: the so-called tail "mirror" is absent. The bottom of the bell legs. In the summer, the moose painting is darker than in winter. An animal tail length is 12-13 cm.
The front teeth on the upper jaw of the moose are missing, but they are compensated for 8 incisors on the lower jaw. Also, animals have 6 pairs of molars (indigenous teeth) and 6 pairs of premolars (small indigenous teeth), which serve for chewing food.
Moose swim well (they can swim up to 20km) and run quite quickly. The moose speed reaches 55 km / h.
Elsh has the largest horns among all mammals. They reaches 180 cm and weigh up to 20 kg. The horn consists of a short barrel and a wide, flat, a little concave shovel, which is cutting up to 18 processes. The number of processes, their length, as well as the magnitude of the shovel itself is different in the moose of different ages. The older elk, the more powerful of his horns, the shovel is wider, and the processes on it are shorter. Only small horns grow in the young sicks in a year after birth.
Initially elk Roga Soft, covered with delicate skin and wool. Inside the horns pass blood vessels, so the horns of the young animal can sow with the bite of insects and bleed when they are injured, which naturally causes pain. After a year and 2 months after the birth of an animal, the horns clarify, the blood supply to them stops. On the fifth year of the life of the horns of Elk (Panta) become big, powerful and heavy: the shovel becomes wider, and the processes on it are shorter.
In November - December elk drops the old horns. This process does not cause pain with an animal, but only brings relief. To get rid of the horns as quickly as possible, the elk is thrown by horns about the trees. In April - the animal, new horns begin to grow in an animal, which finally hardened by the end of July, and in August, moose cleans them from the skin. In females there are no horns.
The horns are needed by elk not to protect against predators, as it may seem, but only for the marriage ritual. They attract females and scare the males rivals. At the end of the marriage period, they lose their function, and the horns are thrown off. This makes it easier for its existence, since in the winter it would be difficult to move with such a weight on my head.
And yet, why do the horns disappear? The fact is that after the marriage season in the blood of the moose, the amount of genital hormones decreases, as a result, the base of the horns appear cells that destroy the bone substance and weaken the fastening of the horns to the skull. In the end, the horns disappear. Released elk horns that contain a lot of protein, eat rodents, birds and predators or soften in swampy.
Moose are common in the northern hemisphere. Numerous population of moose to XIX century It was completely destroyed in Europe, excluding Russia, and only as a result of security measures taken at the beginning of the 20th century, these animals re-settled in Northern and Eastern Europe. Now in the European continent, Moose inhabit in the countries of the Scandinavian Peninsula (Finland, Norway), in the north of Ukraine, in Belarus, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Baltic countries (Latvia, Estonia), in Russia: from the Kola Peninsula in the north to the southern steppes. In Asia, they occupy the Taiga zone of Siberia, reaching the foresotundra, as well as the Far East, northeast of China, North Mongolia. In North America, Losi live in Canada, in Alaska and in the north-east of the United States of America.
As for natural habitats, moose will usually be settled in coniferous and mixed forests with swamps, quiet rivers and streams; in Festour Tundra - on birchings and oxescents; on the shores of steppe rivers and lakes - in floodplain thickets; In mountain forests - in the valleys, on gentle slopes, plateau. Sochanta prefer forests with a thick undergrowth, the piglet of the young, avoiding high-ranking, monotonous forest arrays.
Moose live more or less thanced and moves not too much. Making small transitions in search of feed, they stay to a long time within one terrain.
In the summer, the plot on which lives and feeds moose wider than in winter. From the places in which winter snow cover reaches 70cm and more mammals in less snow areas. This is characteristic of the districts of the Urals, Siberia, the Far East. The first legs are left with elms, and for them the males and female without the rating. Spring moose returns to their familiar habitats in the reverse order.
Moshi hold, mostly, one or small groups. In winter, animals are going to herds in places where there is more feed and less snow.
Such favorable places in which a lot of food is going to a lot of individuals are called "core", and in Canada, the courtyard. In the spring, moose raised again.
Elk is a vegetative animal that feeds on wood-shrub and herbatous plants, Mkhami, lichens, mushrooms. The kind of feed changes with the change of season. In the summer, the main food of animals is the leaves of trees and shrubs, water plants, herbs. Best elk eats leaves, rowan, ash, maple, crash, cherry, willow. Also mammals love marsh, aquatic and voluminous plants: pita, cubes, bowls, chests. In the spring and early summer, they eat in large quantities. High, juicy umbrella herbs, Cypria or Ivan-tea, sorrel preferent from herbs. By the end of the summer, the mosses use mushrooms, branches of blueberries and lingonberries with berries. In the fall, moose also includes a bark and fallen leaves. In September, the animals begin to shove the shoots and branches of trees and shrubs, and by November almost completely passed on the woodcut: branches, chevy, bark. In the first half of winter, the moose prefer to feed on the deciduous rocks of trees and shrubs, in the second half - coniferous. To the winter food elk belongs, Willow, Fir, Rowan. Also, animals eat a bark during thaw or in the southern regions, where it is not so freezing, as in the north, the lichens eat, finding them on the trees during thaw or on the ground under the snow. From under the snow, mammals also mined the eroch, berry bushes. In winter, Losi drink very little water and snow does not eat, so as not to lose heat.
In different parts of the habitat area, the cathed can use various feeds. Very often, animals of one region are completely not eating food, which in another part is used with pleasure. During the day, the adult elk eats up to 35 kg of feed in summer and 12-15 kg in winter.
In addition, Losi love salt very much and almost everywhere attend natural or artificial sollets: they are gnawing with a salt-rich soil, licking stones, drink saltwaten water. Salon for moose serves as a source of minerals.
Moose do not have a certain feeding time and rest during the day. In the summer, with the advent of blood-suicing insects (,) and the onset of heat, they are more resting in the afternoon, passing away in cool or raw places, in the glades, where the wind blows, lie on the shallow water, occasionally enter the water on the neck. They feed, mainly at the dawn or at night. In winter, periods of feeding and rest alternate several times a day. With large frosts, it loses a lot, plunging into a loose snow, he will raise into the custody under the cover of coniferous young. During Gon, animals are active at any time of the day.
Life expectancy with favorable conditions It is 20-25 years. But in nature, this period is much smaller and often does not exceed 10 years. Most moose dies early: from natural enemies, and, from diseases, from the hands of a person, for whom the elk is the most important fishing beast, drown on crossings through the rivers during the ice drift. Young elms do not withstand cold weather in protracted spring.
The genus Else has always been considered consisting of one species - elk (lat. Alces Alces.). Inside the species distinguished several American, European and Asian subspecies. Thanks to modern achievements of genetics, a new classification has been defined, according to which the moose (lat. Alces.) Come 2 species: european elk and the elk is American. The number of subspecies is still not defined and probably will change.
Below is a description of the current species of elk.
In Russia, it is often referred to as Sokhat. The elk length reaches 270 cm, and the height in the withers is 220 cm. European moose weighs up to 600-655 kg. Females in size less. The color of the animal is dark or black and brown, on the back of a black bar. The end of the muzzle and legs below are light. The upper lip, the stomach and the inner parts of the legs are almost white. Summer color is darker. Elk horns with a well-developed shovel, up to 135 cm in motion. European elk dwells in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, the European part of Russia, in the Urals, in Western Siberia to Yenisei and Altai.
Sometimes this species is called East Siberian. It has a varnotonic color: the top of the body and neck rzavo- or gray-brown; Belly, bottom of the sides and tops of the legs black. In summer, the color is darker, in the winter is lighter. The weight of adult moose varies from 300 to 600 kg or more. The size of the body is approximately the same as in Alces Alces. Elk horns have a wide shovel. The front, separated from the shovel, the process is branched. The horns of the horns achieves more than 100 cm. The width of the shovel reaches 40 cm. American elk lives in Eastern Siberia, in the Far East, in North Mongolia, in North America.
The largest representative of the genus deer. Its weight can reach up to 600 kilograms, the length of the body is about 3 meters, the height is 2.3 meters. The habitat of the elk is a forest, less commonly animal can be found in the steppe zone. It is distributed in Northern Europe and America. It also meets in Asia, namely in China, Mongolia and the Siberian Taiga.
In some parts of Europe, the elk was completely exterminated. Thanks to his security, begun since 1920, the species managed to preserve and settle in Western Europe.
In the forests of moose I prefer to settle in the thickets of IV, near the banks of rivers, lakes and swamps. In Feretundra, most often found in birch and aspen groves. In the summer in the tundra and the moose steppes can be seen in the open area. Most often mosi live sideways. In those places where there are 70 centimeters in winter, carry out transitions there, where the snow cover is smaller. Going to herd, they pass about 10-15 kilometers per day. The journey of moose lasts from October to January.
The males and females of Malos often live a single way or small groups of 3-4 individuals. In the summer and winter females with cubs, they walk with groups from 3 to 4 goals, to which other people can join and create a herd to 8 individuals.
What do moose eat?
Losi - herbivores and, as well as their closest deer conid, eat forest vegetation. They are eaten mostly shrubs, leaves and bark of trees, young branches, moss, lichens and mushrooms. Eat moose water and growing near the plants near water: horsetails, pita, bow, cubes. When the fruits of plants repense, they eat them, lingonberries, blueberries, wild raspberries. In winter, Moose eat chew, willow branches, bodle a bark. On the day, one elk can eat up to 36 kilograms of feed. In addition to the vegetation, they need salt, which they are looking for in the Salonians. Sometimes even there were cases that Moos in the winter licked salt from highways.
In the summer, because of the heat of the moose graze at night. In the afternoon, it is preferred to spend time on the glades blowable or in water. Thus, they are saved from the exhausting heat and annoying insects. In winter, the opposite is rummed in the afternoon, and the night spend on their sun beds.
Elk occupied a special position in the culture of people since ancient times. He was considered the owner of the forest, and some nations even worshiped him.
Currently, this is a commercial mammal. Every year the Emboss Hunting season opens, which attracts many hunters.
The total population of moose has more than 1.5 million individuals. Most of them live in Russia. Also a large number of animals live in the territory of Eastern and Western Europe.
In the period from 18 to 19th century, the population was completely exterminated here, but later she managed to restore due to security measures, such as:
Elk also lives in Mongolia and the northeastern part of China. On the American continent, Losi burned Alaska, as well as the Northern and Eastern regions of the United States.
Miscellaneous forests are most likely, they rarely live on open spaces. They can often be found in birch, pine bodies. Often, animals choose places nearby from lakes or rivers.
This is especially true in the summer, because you need to escape from the heat. In winter, moose moves to coniferous forests, but try to avoid deep snowdrifts. They can remain in one place if the height of the snow does not exceed 0.5 meters.
During this period, it is rather difficult to determine where the elk dwells, as the herd can start moving from the end of autumn and return back only with the onset of heat. Per day they can take up about 15 km.
Interestingly, the first to leave the "camp" females with elms and only then followed by the males go.
The moose is a very large form of mammals. Their weight reaches 6 hundred kilograms, with a body length of up to 3 meters and growth to 2.5 meters. However, males, females are much less possessed.
The males have very big horns, they can weigh up to 30 kg, and their width can be about 2 meters. Each autumn horns are discarded and for the period of cold, they grow up again.
In addition, the number of branches on the horns testifies to the age of the animal. On the different photos, moose looks not like other deer. This in particular concerns males - they are much larger and more powerful.
Despite the fact that Malley's females look not as present as males, they enjoy quite popular with the opposite sex. In females, long legs, a grilled back and a big top lip.
An animal has an excellent hearing and smell, at the expense of what the elk feels perfectly in the forest, but they have weak eyesight. So, they may not notice a fixed object from a distance of 25 meters. The animals swim quite well, so they are saved from the heat, benus and hunger.
The moose is not conflict, if there is a possibility to escape they will not fight.
However, when they fight, they will be wrong with horns, but in front of the paws. Despite the fact that the animal has a large mass, his blows are very strong.
The bulging of the moose is vegetation. Mostly it is mosses, mushrooms and lichens. In the pictures with elk will never be seen as an animal eats grass. They simply cannot reach it because of high growth and short neck. Also animals are not averse to leaving the leaves from different trees and shrubs.
Moose "rude" to the foliage with the branches, holding them with big lips. They can eat and aquatic plants, dropping your head in the water.
In the fall, when foliage falls, the moose eat the bark of trees. In the summer, they can eat very tight, drinking about 30 kg of food per day, in winter this figure is twice.
For the year they can eat up to 7 tons of vegetation. Also, for their nutrition, they need a salt, they can lick it from the roads or come to the Solonians who do Eger for them.
Under favorable conditions, the life of the moose is about 25 years. However, in the rigid conditions of nature, they live no more than 10-12 years.
Blame so heavy weather And predators who can exterminate patients, old and very young animals. A man is applied to the destruction of the moose hand.
Being a fishing animal, the season of hunting on it opens from October, and ends in January. Moose meat is used in cooking, it possesses unique qualities And it is very expensive.
Also, their skins and horns can also be of great value. However, the moose is not bred in agriculture, since it is too expensive.
