There are moose in Mongolia? I asked the same thing when I saw this picture of a Mongolian hunter with a felled moose. Moose as a matter of fact are just one of the many animal species that live in this remote country. Antelope, Ibex, Snow leopard’s, Brown Bears, Wolves and whole lot of other wild animals call Mongolia home. This came as kind of shock to me, as I always depicted Mongolia as home to sheep, camels, and nomadic tribes.

The Ussurian, Amur or Manchurian moose as it is called, is the smallest sub-specie of moose in the world, and in Mongolia is found in the northern part of the country. Currently the Ussurian moose is a protected species in Mongolia after years of unregulated and illegal hunting hurt populations.

Ussurian moose are quite smaller than their North American, European, and Eastern Russian cousins in both body and antler size. Bulls weigh between 500-700 pounds with females being even smaller. Ussurian moose antlers are also smaller than other moose species, males will generally only have three to four tines per antler, and little if any palmation.

So the next time you want to impress your friends or family with useless knowledge, may I suggest letting them know that moose do in fact live in Mongolia. It won’t win you any dates or friends (in fact you may lose a few friends because of it), but it will give something for them to think about as they quickly get away from you.

More info about the Ussurian Moose.

Recent evidence has found that caveman (those guys from the GEICO Commercials) may have driven the Cave Bear to extinction through direct competition for food and living arrangements. About 50,000 years ago, caves become choice real estate property all over the European continent for a growing human population. Yes, it seems that these limestone caves which were plentiful throughout Europe  were spacious enough to house a large number of  Captain Caveman’s.  However, cave bears were also fans of these caves, and since humans and bears don’t exactly get along, there was friction between the two. This friction unfortunately resulted in the eventual extinction of the cave bear as loss of home and habitat were too much for these large bears.

I imagine one of the worst jobs of a caveman(which I assume was just about everything), was getting a cave bear out of your future home.  Cave Bears which were about the size of a modern day Kodiak bear, probably did not take well to having a half naked man coming into their cave and forcing them out.  I would hope that the bears took their fair share of cavemen with them before falling to a barrage of spears, stones, or whatever else the caveman had at their disposal. Eventually this unpleasant method of home eviction led to the ultimate extinction of the giant cave bear.

What does this have to do with Moose? Well the cave bear could have possibly had moose on their menu, since there were moose around during the ice age, and mostly because there’s not much news in the world of the moose today.

Caveman killed Cave Bear news article

I came across this amazing illustration of a bull moose being attacked by wolves as I was looking for moose related stuff on Google. The Illustration by Frederick Shoberl was done in 1834, and was included in the book The Natural History of Quadrupeds.

What I love about this illustration is the uniqueness and attention to detail(you can see the cross hatching), as well as the story it tells. The eyes of the moose clearly reveal  how this story will end, which for the moose is on the wolves dinner plate. However this moose is not going down with a fight as if you look closely at the picture you will see a wolf who is on the wrong side of the moose’s antlers, as well as a wolf being kicked by the bull’s back leg.

Very rarely do I come across a moose piece of art that I could honestly say, “I would hang that in my house”, this illustration is the exception. I may not be able to hang it in the living room because frankly, my wife wouldn’t allow it. She would however maybe allow me to hang it in the family room or the spare bedroom. Regardless of where it could go in my house, I love this moose illustration.

The Romans were amazing. Not only did conquer the known world, but they were also brilliant in their knowledge of science, politics, agriculture, engineering, medicine, need I go on? Anyone who has had the opportunity to visit Italy can still see and even feel the Roman influence through out the country. So how does this relate to moose? Well the Romans as far we know gave us the first actual description of the moose or elk as they are referred to it in Europe.

In Julius Ceaser’s “Commentarii de Bello Gallico” written between 40 and 50 BC, which I have not read, details the Romans wars with the Gauls(celtic people) during the Gallic Wars. Besides giving a detailed account of the wars with Gauls they also give useful information on the history and geography of the area. This area which included both Germany and possibly Scandinavia was where moose were probably first encountered. The book says in regarding moose:

“There are also [animals], which are called elks. The shape of these, and the varied colour of their skins, is much like roes, but in size they surpass them a little and are destitute of horns, and have legs without joints and ligatures; nor do they lie down for the purpose of rest, nor, if they have been thrown down by any accident, can they raise or lift themselves up. Trees serve as beds to them ; they lean themselves against them, and thus reclining only slightly, they take their rest; when the huntsmen have discovered from the footsteps of these animals whither they are accustomed to betake themselves, they either undermine all the trees at the roots, or cut into them so far that the upper part of the trees may appear to be left standing. When they have leant upon them, according to their habit, they knock down by their weight the unsupported trees, and fall down themselves along with them.”

Pliny the Elder who in 77 AD wrote Naturalis Historia an encyclopedia detailing all the current about nearly all the ancient world, also talked of the moose or as he referred to them “achlis” in the chapter “The Animals of the North”:

“..there is, also, the elk, which strongly resembles our steers, except that it is distinguished by the length of the ears and of the neck. There is also the achlis  which is produced in the island of Scandinavia; it has never been seen in this city, although we have had descriptions of it from many persons; it is not unlike the elk, but has no joints in the hind leg. Hence, it never lies down, but reclines against a tree while it sleeps; it can only be taken by previously cutting into the tree, and thus laying a trap for it, as otherwise, it would escape through its swiftness. Its upper lip is so extremely large, for which reason it is obliged to go backwards when grazing; otherwise, by moving onwards, the lip would get doubled up.”

It seems that even back in the 1st century AD that moose were something to talk about, granted I imagine in 1st Century AD moose in Scandinavia were the least of your worries. Vikings would be #1 thing I would be worried about, anyone who saw “Pathfinder” can tell you that. The movie was lame, but the Vikings in it were gnarly.