Moose Beaver Pond Part 1 HD 1080p
Seeing a bull moose, or any a moose, feeding in a beaver pond in the Fall is not as common as you might think. Moose are far more likely to visit a beaver pond in the Spring when there are fresh, young, nutritionally rich water plants growing. Such plants in the Fall are not nearly as nourishing as those at the beginning of the growing season.
But as you will see in Parts Two and Three there are other reasons for the bull to visit these ponds.
The bull's antlers are reddish because he has just shed the velvet layer (a layer of skin) that protected them while they grew. In a few weeks they will bleach out and become quite brownish.
He is a young bull not quite ready for prime time. Think of him as being a hormonal teenager. Next year his antlers will be even bigger. Size matters, or at least antler size does.
He does not stay long. But he will return.
This is the first of a three part series on moose behaviour in the Fall. the other parts will follow over the next few weeks. The video was shot a year ago in Grand Teton National Park. Moose are relatively new arrivals in the southern Rockies. They were largely absent two hundred years ago. Moose are sensitive to changing climates, They like cooler weather than say white-tiled deer do, and if the current warming climate trends continue they may be see their range reduced. This is a Shiras moose. The smallest race of moose. Still and impressive animal.