Moose Images Collection

Moose images - The moose (North America) or elk (Eurasia), Alces alces, is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the broad, flat (or palmate) antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic ("twig-like") configuration. Moose typically inhabit boreal forests and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests of the Northern Hemisphere in temperate to subarctic climates. Hunting and other human activities have caused a reduction in the size of the moose's range over time. Moose have been reintroduced to some of their former habitats. Currently, most moose are found in Canada, Alaska, New England, Fennoscandia, Latvia, Estonia and Russia. Their diet consists of both terrestrial and aquatic vegetation. The most common moose predators are the gray wolf along with bears and humans. Unlike most other deer species, moose are solitary animals and do not form herds. Although generally slow-moving and sedentary, moose can become aggressive and move quickly if angered or startled. Their mating season in the autumn features energetic fights between males competing for a female. (Wikipedia)

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Moose Images

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Alces alces is called a "moose" in North American English, but an "elk" in British English. That same word "elk" in North American English refers to a completely different species of deer, the Cervus canadensis, also called the wapiti. A mature male moose is called a bull, a mature female a cow, and an immature moose of either sex a calf.
The word "elk" originated from Proto-Germanic languages, from which Old English evolved. The British English word "elk" has cognates in other Indo-European languages, for example elg in Danish/Norwegian; älg in Swedish; alnis in Latvian; Elch in German; and łoś in Polish (Latin alcē or alcēs and Greek ἅλκη álkē are probably Germanic loanwords). In the continental-European languages, these forms of the word "elk" almost always refer to the Alces alces.
The word "moose" first entered English by 1606 and is borrowed from the Algonquian languages (compare the Narragansett moos and Eastern Abenaki mos; according to early sources, these were likely derived from moosu, meaning "he strips off"), and possibly involved forms from multiple languages mutually reinforcing one another. The Proto-Algonquian form was *mo·swa.
The term "moose" is a name of North American origin, and the scientific name Alces alces comes from its Latin name. The animal is known in British English as the "elk". The moose became extinct in Britain during the Bronze Age, long before the Europeans' discovery of America. The youngest bones were found in Scotland and are roughly 3900 years old. The word "elk" remained in usage because of its existence in continental Europe but, without any living animals around to serve as a reference, the meaning became rather vague to most ancient speakers of English, who used "elk" to refer to "large deer" in general. Dictionaries of the 18th century simply described "elk" as a deer that was "as large as a horse".
Confusingly, the word "elk" is used in North America to refer to a different animal, Cervus canadensis, which is also called by the Algonkian indigenous name, "wapiti". The British began colonizing America in the 17th century, and found two common species of deer for which they had no names. The wapiti appeared very similar to the red deer of Europe (which itself was almost extinct in Southern Britain) although it was much larger and was not red. The moose was a rather strange-looking deer to the colonists, and they often adopted local names for both. In the early days of American colonization, the wapiti was often called a grey moose and the moose was often called a black moose, but early accounts of the animals varied wildly, adding to the confusion.

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