Moose
Moose
Mammal
The largest species of deer, perfectly adapted to deep snow.
💡 Fun Facts
- Has incredibly long legs to wade through deep winter snow and reach the high branches of pine trees.
Name Story
Alces alces
means “the bark-stripper — 'elk' on one side of the ocean, 'moose' on the other”
What does its name mean?
- Alces (×2) — elk/moose — the old classical name, said twiceLatin, from Greek
- moose — 'he strips off' (for stripping bark and twigs)an Algonquian language of North America
- elk — the old name for this same animalOld English
The name "moose" means "he strips off", for the way it peels bark and twigs to eat. Here is a tangle to remember: in Europe this animal is called the "elk" — but in North America "elk" was given to a completely different deer, so one animal ends up with two names.