Moose (North America) or Eurasian elk (Europe)

Description:

The moose is the largest living member of the deer family. There are four subspecies in North America.This is a male, or bull, and his antlers are in velvet, or still growing. They will be much larger by breeding season in the fall. This moose was along the upper Colorado River in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Habitat:

Moose are found in the taiga, or "spruce-moose", ecosystem throughout the Northern hemisphere. In North America, they range across Alaska and Canada and southward along the Rocky Mountains as far as Wyoming and Colorado. They often browse in wet environments such as willow meadows or ponds with water lilies.

Notes:

This moose and two other bulls were grazing between U.S. Hwy 34 and the upper Colorado river. With very high snowfall this past winter, the river's floodplain is mostly covered with several inches of snowmelt.