News from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

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DEC REPORTS: Moose Population Approaches 500

Numbers Grow Nearly Tenfold in Last Decade

ALBANY, NY (09/27/2007; 1327)(readMedia)-- Moose numbers are growing exponentially in New York, with roughly 500 moose in the northern part of the state, the state Department of Environmental Conservation(DEC) projects this fall. That’s up from the estimated 50-100 moose a decade earlier and a handful of sporadic sightings in the 1980s.

“It’s wonderful to see this marvelous animal make its way back to New York,” said DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis, noting that moose had vanished from the state for roughly 120 years, from roughly the end of the Civil War until the 1980s.

As their population has grown in New England and Canada, Alces alces, or the North American Moose, has moved into New York, firmly establishing a base in the north country.

And its advancement has come as a revelation to scientists such as Chuck Dente, a DEC Big Game Biologist. When the state began documenting sightings in the 1980s, there was no certainty that the moose would stay – much less grow in numbers. Even if they did stay, it was thought it would take decades to reach such a large population.

“Basically, it kind of surprised us that these animals were taking to New York,” Dente said. “Somewhere along the way they proved everyone wrong. They have adapted quite well.”

The reason: moose numbers in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Canada have been steadily rising, and many moose (usually younger ones) have migrated across the border into New York, Dente said. So much so that it’s possible that the increase in New York’s moose count in recent years is now mainly due to the birth of calves in the state, rather than migration.

“We are now receiving numerous reports of sightings of cows with calves, a good sign of a prolific moose population,” Dente said.

Once here, there have been few predation issues. Researchers had once thought that white-tailed deer and moose could not share the same habitat due to “brainworm,” a parasite that is one of the greatest mortality factors of moose. But, so far, the disease has not had a significant impact.

Reports of wandering moose have become annual events – just recently a young male tramped through Troy (Rensselaer County), swam across the Hudson River and moseyed to a backyard in Waterford (Saratoga County) before DEC officials tranquilized and relocated him to the wilderness. Also, so far in 2007, the state has recorded 12 moose-automobile collisions – a record even before the start of breeding season, when the animals are most active. DEC is working with the state Department of Transportation to determine if and where moose crossing signs might be placed.

Moose are most active at dawn and dusk. They are also especially difficult to see at night because of their dark brown-to-black coloring and their height – which puts their head and much of their body above vehicle headlights.

FAST FACTS: Moose may stand over six feet tall -- at their shoulder. Bulls may weigh as much as 1,400 pounds; cows are somewhat smaller. Calves, sometimes born in pairs, are born from mid-May to early June, weighing 28-35 pounds. They grow to more than 300 pounds in five months.

• Breeding season is in the fall, with the peak running from late September through mid-October. Bulls are unpredictable during this time.
• In the wild, the average life span is about seven to eight years; they rarely live more than 16 years.
• A bull’s antlers average 4-5 feet wide and weigh about 40 pounds.
• Moose will eat 40-60 pounds of vegetation a day. Typically, they eat leaves, twigs and buds of hardwood and softwood trees. In summer, they might eat aquatic vegetation.
• A moose’s range varies from 5 to 50 miles; range can hinge on several factors, including sex and age of the animal, season, weather and habitat quality.
• Other mortality factors include winter ticks and liver flukes, and, for calves younger than nine weeks, coyotes and bears.
• Moose were common in New York centuries ago, when forests covered 95 percent of the landscape. They seemed to have disappeared in the 1860s largely due to agricultural habitat change and unregulated hunting. They did not appear again in the state until the 1980s.

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