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A bull moose, feeding at the mouth of
the Galipo River and Pen Lake, Algonquin Provincial Park, summer of 2014,
courtesy of Steve Burgeson
I
have been adventuring in Algonquin Provincial Park since I was a kid in 1978. It wasn’t until this summer that I finally
found a moose antler in the woods. It
isn’t that I haven’t been looking for them, I have, for 41 years!
Discarded,
or shed, moose antlers are hard to find, and I will tell you why; but first,
let us back up a bit.
A shed moose antler, found during the
summer of 2019, on the shore of Welcome Lake, near the beginning of the Galipo
River.
Every
spring bull moose begin to grow new antlers to attract cow moose, to show
rivals who is the biggest bull in the bog and come fall to fight with. Big antlers are the moose equivalent of bling
or a tricked-out truck and show other moose, the owner’s social status,
dominance and quality as a mate. Moose
antlers are among the fastest growing animal tissue in the world and antlers
grow from nothing to over 44 pounds (20 kg) in just 160 days! While they are growing, a moose’s antlers are
covered with soft skin called “velvet” and are easily damaged. Before the beginning of the breeding season, which
starts in late September, when the antlers are done growing, bull moose will
rub and scrape the velvet off their new antlers on a handy tree trunk. Unfortunately for the moose, his antlers are
heavy, awkward, cumbersome and make it difficult to move through the woods and
avoid predators; especially during the winter.
Every year as winter begins and the breeding season ends, bull moose
lose or shed their “disposable” antlers.
When winter ends and spring begins, bull moose begin to grow new antlers
and the cycle begins again.
So
why is it so hard to find shed antlers?
Because antlers are mostly made of calcium and phosphorus and these two
elements are uncommon in the wilderness.
For this reason, many animals will scavenge antlers as soon as they fall
to the ground. Porcupines, squirrels,
mice and other rodents are quick to gnaw on them for the minerals that they
contain. Wolves also like to chew on
discarded antlers, much like dogs like to chew on bones and for the same
reasons. Chewing on the antlers helps to
clean their teeth and provides them with a much-needed vitamin supplement.
Shed
moose antlers are also the home, feeding ground, nursery and battlefield for
antler flies, protopiophilia litigate, a tiny, little fly that was only
officially discovered in 1988. In the
spring male antler flies will claim a section of a discarded antler and will
defend it against all commers and the females, after mating, will lay their
eggs in the cracks and pores of the antler.
The hatched eggs in turn will become small maggots, feeding on the bone
marrow within the antler. The maggots
will remain inside of the antler until they are big enough to spring to the
ground near the antler, where they will develop into adult antler flies and
begin the cycle all over again.
The
reason why shed moose antlers are so hard to find in the wilderness, is that they
are such a valuable resource and usually they have already been found by the
forest animals and insects and have been consumed.
So,
if you do find a shed antler, remember that it is someone else’s home or lunch
or multi-vitamin and leave it where you found it. Take away only pictures, keep only memories.
I
hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and my videos at
BandanaMan Productions and don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s
Journal Online and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube, and if you
have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site. I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric
Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds,
so watch for me.
Source
Angell,
Chris; “One Moose’s Trash is Another Fly’s Treasure”, The Raven, Vol.
60, No. 2, July 1, 2019 [Queen’s Printer, Ontario, Canada, 2019]
Van Ballenberghe, Victor;
“Rutting Behavior of Moose”, Series: Denali Fact Sheets: Biology,
[National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, February 5, 2015], https://www.nps.gov/articles/aps-v5-i1-c7.htm,
accessed 10/04/19
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