342 



BRANCH CHORDATA 



The American moose (Al'ces america'nus) is the largest member of the 

 family (Fig. 278), living or extinct, and the male has the heaviest and widest 

 spreading antlers.^ These are much flattened and expanded. The moose 

 has a long, thick, and rather prehensile upper lip, and browses upon the 

 bark, leaves, and twigs of certain trees, and upon moss and lichens. It is 

 as fond of wading and swimming as a schoolboy. It is very fleet, and can 

 pass over large fallen tree trunks or a .5-foot fence with ease. Its crj' is a 

 long, resonant bawl. The calf is not spotted. The male has a long, orna- 

 mental strip of hair-covered skin, "the bell," which in the adult is sometimes 

 a foot long. The cow has neither antlers nor bell. The moose is easily 



Fig. 278. — The Alaska moose {Alces amcricaniis gigas). (Yearbook, U. 

 Dept. of Agriculture, 1!)07.) 



handled and may be trained to drive in harness, but it does not live long in 

 capti\-ity except in forest preserves. During the stormy winter "they herd 

 together in sheltered spot.s in the forest, and, through mo\"ing about in a 

 small area, the snow is trodden down until they form a moose-yard" of 

 several miles in extent. The animals browse upon the twigs of adjacent 

 trees and bushes, and with their antlers keep their enemies, the wolves, at 

 bay. 



The so-called "musk-deer" differs from other Cerridir in the absence of 

 horns and in the presence of a gall-bladder, tusks, and the musk gland of the 



' A pair of antlers from Alaska in the Field Ccslumbian Museum has a 

 spread of 782 inches, and, together with tlir skull, weighs 93i pounds. 



