The moose (Alces alces) (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (Alces alces) is the biggest and heaviest living species in the deer family, belonging to the New World deer subfamily. Most mature male moose have broad, palmate (“open-hand like”) antlers, whereas most other members of the deer family have dendritic (“twig-like”) antlers. Moose are found in boreal forests, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, and temperate to subarctic temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere.

The size of the moose’s range has shrunk over time due to hunting and other human activities. Some of its previous habitats have been restored. Canada, Alaska, New England (with Maine having the most of the lower 48 states), New York State, Fennoscandia, the Baltic nations, Poland, and Russia currently have the most moose.

It eats both land and aquatic plants in its diet. Wolves, bears, and humans are the most common moose predators. Moose, unlike most other deer species, do not form herds and live alone, with the exception of calves who stay with their mother until the cow goes into estrus (usually 18 months after the calf is born), at which point the cow drives them away. Moose, despite their sedentary nature, may become violent and move swiftly if irritated or startled. During their mating season in the fall, males compete for females in intense battles.

The etymology of the species is “of uncertain history,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The animal was known as álk in Greek and alces in Latin in Classical Antiquity, terms likely derived from a Germanic or another northern European language.

The species was known as Old English: elch, elh, eolh by the 8th century, during the Early Middle Ages, probably from the Proto-Germanic: *elho-, *elhon- and perhaps linked with the Old Norse: elgr. Later, the species was referred to as elk, elcke, or elke in Middle English, with the Latinized form alke and the spelling alce derived straight from Latin: alces. The Oxford English Dictionary derives elk from Middle High German: elch, which is derived from Old High German: elaho, noting that “elk is not the usual phonetic representation” of the Old English elch.

Other Indo-European languages include cognates for “elk,” such as elg in Danish/Norwegian, älg in Swedish, alnis in Latvian, Elch in German, and o in Polish. These variants of the term “elk” invariably relate to Alces alces in continental European languages.

The oldest elk bones in the UK were discovered in Scotland and are around 3,900 years old. Before 900 AD, the elk was probably extinct on the island. Because English-speakers were familiar with the species in Continental Europe, the word “elk” continued in use; but, without any actual creatures to serve as a reference, the meaning became fairly hazy, and by the 17th century, “elk” acquired a meaning akin to “big deer.” Elk was simply characterized as a deer “as big as a horse” in 18th-century dictionaries.

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