Rule of thumb: If a moose starts looking at something sideways, it’s ready to rumble.
In reality, when a moose starts giving the side eye, it’s really just trying to see something more clearly. The eyes of a moose are positioned on the sides of their head (like a horse), which actually creates a rather large blind spot in front of the animal.
You know… the part of your line of sight that’s pretty damn important.
Because of that, they have to turn their head to the side in order to look at something “head on.” If it sounds like that would be a big disadvantage, that’s because it is. They do boast exceptional senses of hearing and smell, so that helps make up for their bad vision.
But now you know why a moose might turn its head when its in the middle of a confrontation – or is moments away from trying to plow through an antler hunter. If you happened to miss out on that viral clip, you’ve got to check it out at this link. The moose was staring into the man’s soul just before it decided to charge.
In this video, there aren’t any humans getting charged (which is a good thing). However, it does feature two bull moose (technically Shiras moose) having a tense standoff with the picturesque Rocky Mountains acting as a beautiful backdrop. Nothing like a fight with a view, am I right?
Somehow, this Instagram user (a “Wilderness Photo Guide”) was in the perfect place at the perfect time (and appeared to be a safe distance away) to capture this showdown on video. The similarly sized moose turned their heads towards the camera, which looked cool, but as I mentioned earlier, they were just doing so in order to size one another up with some side-eye.
Both walked side by side for a moment as if they were in an old western duel. The bull moose kept their massive antlers raised high, waiting for the other to make the first move. This all happens in a matter of seconds, but the will-moose-won’t-moose of it all made it seem like it lasted longer.
Finally, one of the moose lowers its head and charges, and though it might have been a bluff, it was enough to encourage the other bull to run for the Rockies (would usually say hills there but thought I’d make it topical). Since this all took place during the moose rutting season – which runs from late August to middle of October – this could have very well been a high-stakes face off for territory, or even a mate.
Though they were equally matched in terms of size, one moose simply “didn’t want the smoke” and bowed out of the fight before it could even get started. Even though there wasn’t any antler clanking in this clip, it still makes for an incredibly interesting, caught-on-film nature moment.
The Instagram user who posted the video certainly thought so:
“Some super cool rutting season tension between two enormous Rocky Mountain bull moose. These big guys are both pretty dominant bulls so it’s always exciting to see them stand off.”
