JACKSON, Wyo. — May and June mean moose calf birthing time!
On Thursday, May 23, Buckrail photographer Nick Sulzer happened to be in the right place at the right time to witness twin moose calves hungrily nursing. These twins will stick pretty close to their mama during their first year.
Mother moose will begin to shed her ragged winter coat and grow in new shiny fur this summer.
A cow will only give birth to a pair every three years or so, most years only one calf is born. Cows are ready to be pregnant with their very first calf at two to three years old, and can give birth every year until 14 to 18 years of age. Cows generally give birth to an equal number of bull and cow calves.
Calves begin nursing within the first few hours following birth and will be able to forage for food a few days later. When they are just a week old they have the ability to outrun a human. Calves are weaned off from their mother’s milk at six months of age.
According to the National Park Service, a calf is born weighing in at 30 to 40 pounds and will stand over a meter tall. During their first five months, calves will grow to more than 10 times their birth mass, weighing up to 500 pounds or more.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department says that most male calves develop a hair-covered, bony protuberance by the end of summer. Following this initial development, antlers are grown each summer and shed during winter throughout the bull’s life.
At a year old, calves get run off by their mothers to set out on their own. During this time, they can become prey for bears or wolves and less frequently for cougars or coyotes. If a young moose outwits predators, avoids parasites and manages to survive over the cold winters, it can live for as long as 20 years.
According to the Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, over the past 30 years, moose populations in the Jackson Hole area have declined due to the loss of old growth fir forests, development, parasites, global warming and in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, forest fires, which wiped out large amounts of moose habitat.
Biologists have estimated that there are approximately 1,000 to 3,000 moose in Jackson Hole. The Jackson moose herd includes approximately 276, and another 200 make their home in Yellowstone National Park.
As moose calves are born in the valley this spring, be vigilant when spending time in moose habitat.
