Moose Trivia
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6correct to beat the crowd
This moose trivia quiz has 47 free questions with answers and covers the largest deer alive: how tall and heavy they get, why their antlers are shaped like open hands and how fast they grow, the dewlap under the chin, the hollow hairs that keep them afloat, and the surprising fact that they dive more than five metres for lake-bottom plants. It also ranges across the animal's history and culture: Julius Caesar's description, the Algonquian origin of the word, why Britons say 'elk', the four moose that founded Newfoundland's herd, the Russian farm that milks them, Sweden's enormous annual hunt, the car-industry 'moose test', Bullwinkle, the Loyal Order of Moose and Moose Jaw. Easy questions suit kids and family quiz nights; the harder ones will stretch wildlife buffs. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
30 of 47 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The moose is the largest living member of which animal family?
Deer
The moose is the largest living deer, far outweighing red deer and wapiti; after the bison it is the second-heaviest land animal in North America.
Q 02What is the animal Americans call a moose called in British English?
Elk
Confusingly, Americans use 'elk' for a different deer, the wapiti.
Q 03The word 'moose' entered English by 1606 from which language family?
Algonquian
The word comes from an Algonquian language, Eastern Abenaki mos, whose root is usually glossed as 'he strips off', for the way the animal strips bark and twigs from trees.
Q 04How are a bull moose's antlers described, in contrast to the twig-shaped antlers of other deer?
Palmate, like an open hand
Bull moose grow palmate antlers, broad flattened plates spread like an open hand rather than branching tines; they reach full size in only three to five months, among the fastest-growing tissues of any animal.
Q 05What is the fold of skin hanging under a moose's chin called?
A dewlap or bell
The flap is called a dewlap or bell; both bulls and cows have one, and its purpose is uncertain, with scent signalling during the rut the leading theory.
Q 06How deep have moose been known to dive to reach plants on lake bottoms?
Over 5.5 metres
Their nostrils can seal shut while they browse underwater.
Q 07What feature of a moose's guard hairs helps it stay afloat when swimming?
They are hollow and filled with air
The same hollow hairs provide insulation through Arctic winters.
Q 08Which is the moose's only confirmed marine predator?
Orca
Orcas are the moose's only known marine predator, taking animals swimming between islands off North America's Northwest Coast; a Greenland shark has been found with moose remains, most likely scavenged.
Q 09Which big cat regularly preys on adult moose?
Siberian tiger
Siberian tigers of the Amur region regularly kill adult moose, prey that can weigh several times as much as the cat; elsewhere a full-grown moose's main natural enemy is the wolf pack.
Q 10Which of a moose's senses is considered its weakest?
Eyesight
Moose have notably poor eyesight and depend instead on a keen sense of smell and sharp hearing, with large ears that swivel to pinpoint noises.
Q 11Which Roman author gave the earliest surviving written description of the moose?
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar described the animal in Book 6 of his Gallic War commentaries, among the beasts of the Hercynian Forest, repeating the odd claim that it had no knee joints and slept leaning against trees.
Q 12Moose were introduced to which Canadian island in 1878 and 1904, becoming its dominant large herbivore?
Newfoundland
Newfoundland received two moose at Gander Bay in 1878 and a second shipment at Howley in 1904; with few predators their descendants grew into a herd well over 100,000 strong.
Q 13The island's roughly 150,000 moose are descended from how many introduced animals?
Four
Q 21Why do bull moose drop their antlers after the mating season?
To conserve energy for winter
Bulls shed their antlers after the rut to conserve energy for winter, when food is scarce; a new set starts growing in spring, though immature bulls may keep theirs until then.
Q 22From how far away can a bull moose's grunts be heard?
Up to 500 metres
A bull's rutting grunts carry up to 500 metres through the forest; cows answer with a long, wail-like call to draw bulls to them.
Q 23What is the Älgtest, better known in English by its animal name?
A vehicle swerving trial
Four moose from New Brunswick, released at Howley in 1904, founded the herd, which with few predators grew into one of the densest moose populations anywhere.
Q 14Moose belong to which order of mammals?
Artiodactyla
Moose are even-toed ungulates of the order Artiodactyla, bearing weight on two main toes per foot, like cattle and pigs; horses and rhinos are odd-toed Perissodactyla.
Q 15Moose antlers in hut remains near Alby, dated around 6000 BC, were found in which country?
Sweden
Sweden's moose-hunting tradition is ancient: antlers in Mesolithic hut remains near Alby on the island of Öland date to about 6000 BC, and the country's autumn moose hunt is Europe's largest.
Q 16Roughly how much did the largest confirmed moose, shot on the Yukon River in 1897, weigh?
820 kg
The bull shot on the Yukon River in September 1897 weighed about 820 kg (1,800 lb) and stood 2.33 metres at the shoulder; heavier claims exist, but none has been authenticated.
Q 17Which moose subspecies is the largest?
Alaska
The Alaska moose, also called the Yukon moose, is the largest subspecies, ranging across Alaska and the Yukon; mature bulls carry antlers spanning up to 1.8 metres across.
Q 18Which common livestock feed can be fatal to a moose because it cannot digest it?
Hay
Moose cannot digest hay, and feeding it to them can be fatal; their need for a varied, expensive diet is one reason they were never widely domesticated.
Q 19An experimental farm in which country keeps a tame moose herd mainly for its milk?
Russia
Russia's Kostroma Moose Farm, founded in 1963 near the city of Kostroma, keeps a tame herd whose milk goes to the nearby Ivan Susanin sanatorium.
Q 20In which months does the moose rut, or mating season, take place?
September and October
The moose rut runs through September and October; mature bulls stop feeding almost entirely for about two weeks at its height and spend their energy fighting rivals and courting cows.
The Älgtest, or moose test, is a vehicle swerving trial that checks whether a car can dodge a sudden obstacle without rolling; the 1997 Mercedes A-Class famously tipped over in it.
Q 24Which deer-borne parasite is blamed for moose declines in the south of their range?
Brainworm
Brainworm, a nematode that whitetails carry harmlessly, is fatal to moose and is blamed for declines along the southern edge of their range; liver flukes and winter ticks add to the toll.
Q 25Moose reintroduced in 1978 to which state had grown to a herd topping 2,400 by the 2010s?
Colorado
Colorado's herd dates from 1978 releases in North Park; the population passed 2,400 by 2013, and isolated groups have since been verified as far south as Utah.
Q 26How does a moose's hoof help it cross soft ground and snow?
It splays under load
The two-toed hoof splays under load, spreading the moose's weight over soft ground and snow much like a snowshoe; the wider surface also helps it paddle when swimming.
Q 27How high at the shoulder does an average adult moose stand?
1.4 to 2.1 metres
An adult moose stands about 1.4 to 2.1 metres at the shoulder, more than 30 cm taller on average than the next-largest cervid, the wapiti.
Q 28With good nutrition, what share of moose births can be twins?
30 to 40 percent
With good nutrition, 30 to 40 percent of moose births can be twins; cows on poor range almost always drop a single calf, and triplets are very rare.
Q 29Which Michigan island's isolated moose population is studied alongside its wolves?
Isle Royale
Isle Royale, in Lake Superior, has hosted the world's longest-running predator-prey study since 1958, tracking its wolves and moose together; roughly 2,000 moose lived there in 2019.
Q 30By what year had moose gone extinct in Massachusetts, before recolonising in the 1960s?
1870
Hunting and forest clearance had wiped moose out of Massachusetts by 1870; they recolonised in the 1960s from Vermont and New Hampshire, and the state had 850 to 950 by 2010.