Moose
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Moose
, river, CanadaMoose, river, c.50 mi (80 km) long, formed in central Ont., Canada, by the Mattagami and Missinaibi rivers. It flows NE to its confluence with the Abitibi River and into SW James Bay near Moosonee.
moose
, in zoologymoose, largest member of the deer family, genus Alces, found in the northern parts of Eurasia and North America. The Eurasian species, A. alces, is known in Europe as the elk, a name which in North America is applied to another large deer, the wapiti. The Eurasian and the American moose are quite similar, but the American moose is somewhat larger and is considered by some to be a separate species, A. americana. It inhabits the coniferous forests of Alaska, Canada, and the northern conterminous United States. The moose has a heavy brown body with humped shoulders, and long, lighter-colored legs, the front pair longer than the hind ones. It has a thick, overhanging, almost trunklike muzzle and a short neck; a flap of skin covered with long hair and called the bell hangs from the throat. The male has broad, extremely flattened antlers, with a spread of up to 6 ft (180 cm). The largest variety is the Alaska moose; the adult male weighs from 1,000 to 1,800 lb (450–820 kg) and stands as much as 71-2 ft (2.3 m) high at the shoulder. Browsers rather than grazers, moose eat leaves, twigs, buds, and the bark of some woody plants, as well as lichens, aquatic plants, and some of the taller herbaceous land plants. Moose live in small groups during the summer, sometimes forming large herds in the winter. They are polygamous, the males becoming very aggressive during the mating season. They are strong swimmers, reportedly crossing lakes many miles wide. Protection in national parks and reserves in Canada and the United States has saved the moose from extermination. Hunting of moose is strictly regulated. The Eurasian moose, or elk, is found from Scandinavia to E Siberia. Moose are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, Class Mammalia, order Artiodactyla, family Cervidae.
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Moose
a river in eastern Canada, in the basin of Hudson Bay. It is formed by the confluence of the Mattagami (442 km long) and Missinaibi (426 km long) rivers, which rise in the Canadian Shield. The Moose River empties into James Bay. Its length from the point of confluence is 104 km, and its basin drains an area of 108, 000 sq km. The mean flow rate is 1, 400 cu m per sec. The river’s largest tributary (right) is the Abitibi River (547 km long). A railroad has been constructed along the Moose valley to the port of Moosonee at the mouth of the river.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
moose
[müs] (vertebrate zoology)
An even-toed ungulate of the genus Alces in the family Cervidae; characterized by spatulate antlers, long legs, a short tail, and a large head with prominent overhanging snout.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Moose
the epitome of “the obtuse jock,” or dimwitted athlete. [Comics: “Archie” in Horn, 87]
See: Dimwittedness
Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
moose
a large North American deer, Alces alces, having large flattened palmate antlers: also occurs in Europe and Asia where it is called an elk
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005