Moose calves weight 13 to 16 kg at birth, by fall they can weight 10 times that. The calves start nursing a few hours after being born, stopping in the fall when the mother is breeding again. They start eating or testing different food within a few weeks of being born. The mother using the knowledge she gained through her life experience will move around the landscape to get the food she and her calf need to be ready for the coming winter. The more weight the calf can put on, the better chance it will have to survive the winter. Over the winter, it’s more about conserving energy than consuming. With less nutritious food, members of the deer family lose weight until spring arrives.
For this calf, her whole survival depends on her mother. Once this calf started walking, which was a few minutes after birth. Its survival instinct is to follow its mother, for food and for protection. As soon as the mother saw me, her ears were up and pointed toward me. She needed to get to a safe spot. Within a few seconds she decided to get out of the area and into cover. She got out of the water, crossed a small open area and into the woods she went. The calf trying to keep its balance was right behind the mother. The mother was maintaining a pace its calf could keep up with. And just like that, the moose and the calf were out of perceived danger. Hopefully soon they found a place for the calf to recover from one of its first adventures, seeing a two legged mammal.
