Moose

The moose - known in Europe as the elk - is an elusive animal of the North, for its natural history is little-known. Siberia is the moose's original home, from whence it spread via the 'Baring Land Bridge' into North America about 250,000 years ago. Today the moose's chief habitats are the lakeland wildernesses of Canada and the United States and the vast tracks of forest that cover much of Scandinavia and Russia. In this book, we learn of the moose's life-cycle, diet and breeding habits, noting its relative freedom from predators, and its present numbers and territorial spread. Hightly valued by the peoples of the North, the moose has at times served as a beast of burden (carrying men or hauling sledges) and always as a cornucopia for fur, leather, glue, horn and of course meat. In addition to contributing to the folklore and mythologies of Native Americans, Swedes, Russians and other cultures, the moose inspired, for example, Theodore Roosevelt's briefly ascendant 'Bull Moose' political party as well as a hugely popular 1960s children's TV cartoon show, which featured the idiot savant Bullwinkle J. Moose.

Kevin Jackson is Visiting Professor of English at University College, London.