Moose Behavior

More than once we observed this behavior and thought it might be of interest.

We spotted this cow moose and her calf ahead of us, 10 yards off the road to the right. We pulled over and stopped around 50 yards from them and began photographing them. In the first picture, mama moose has spotted us and is keeping an eye on us, but is not too worried about us as they continue to eat.

Several minutes later a car coming from the other direction sees us stopped and sees the moose, so he pulls over right across the road from the moose. Mama and baby both alert to the stopped car.

The idiot passenger in the other car gets out of the car. Mama moose steps up close to her calf as she senses a potential threat.

When the idiot comes around the hood to photograph them, mama gives the verbal signal.

Her obedient calf instantly turns and runs for the safety of the woods, and mama strategically places herself between the danger and her calf as they quickly trot off into the woods.

We have seen this scenario play out many times in moose jams. Everything goes fine and the moose are not afraid of vehicles while being photographed. But, eventually some idiot gets out of their car and the moose disappear. Mothers are like that, yeah they are.