Majestic in early morning mist, a bull mooose in Alaska'd Denali National Park
Photo: © Michio Hoshino, National Geogaphic Magazine, August 1987


Love at first glance
Photo: © Michio Hoshino, National Geogaphic Magazine, August 1987 ....


Crowned with velvet, a mature bull moose's antlers will shed their protective skin by summer's end.
Photo: © Michio Hoshino, National Geogaphic Magazine, August 1987

  


© http://www.danielnpaul.com

Albino moose have been showing up in south east Idaho, USA, for several years.
Normally, only 1 in 100,000 moose have the albino trait, which is recessive.
But the gene appears to run in the herd in southeastern Idaho, where the probability of an albino moose may be 1 in 10,000.



 
Storming to the rescue, a cow rushes to confront a hungry grizzly that barreled out of the bush in pursuit of her calf
as she was browsing nearby. Without intervention the four-week-old calf would have joined grim statistics.
Of a hundred calves born each spring in easter Denali National Park, 85 to 90 die by autumn.
Many succumb to bears, the rest to wolves or natural accidents.
While a mature moose can outrun a bear or occasionally repel one with antlers, a calf has no defenses,
though it can swim from birth and will take to water when in danger.
Staying close to mother - preferably right underneath her - offers the best chance for survival.
Text and the 3 photos: © Michio Hoshino, National Geogaphic Magazine, August 1987