One of the things that happens all the time in nature, but is rarely ever seen by the human eye.
A woman in Alaska captured the exact moment that a towering moose shed his entire set of antlers, and all it took one was big full-body shake. Moose, as well as other antlered animals, normally shed their antlers on an annual basis, and that process typically happens far into the wilderness with no human around to see it.
They don’t always lose both sides of their antlers either, so moose can sometimes go days, if not weeks, walking around with one side of their rack. If I haven’t made it clear so far, I’m trying to really explain how rare something like this is. In other words, this footage that Christie Ericson was able to get using her phone is truly remarkable.
It’s a short but sweet video that was posted by Alaska News Source on Instagram. The moose appears to be in a snow-covered neighborhood (not usual moose territory) when it began to shake it’s noggin. It actually startles itself when its large antlers became loose, and ultimately fell to the ground. Both sides of the moose’s rack clank down to the ground, and the combination of the sound and the sheer fact that it just lost a lot of weight off the top of its head sends the moose running away in fear.
Ericson says that she had just gotten back home when she saw the moose across from her house. It’s kind of hard to miss, considering it’s the largest animal in the deer family. If you aren’t familiar with these beasts, their height and weight might surprise you. Males are typically bigger than females, with bull moose usually standing at 6 feet tall at their shoulders and weighing up to 1,400 pounds.
The antlered animals usually live up north in colder climates (though one was recently spotted in Kansas, randomly). Ericson, the Alaska resident that took this video, said that she actually frequently sees big ol’ moose in her neighborhood. This sighting was a bit more rare though:
“I had just gotten home from a meeting and was pulling into the driveway and saw the moose.”
Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
Christie Ericson was able to witness the moose shedding both antlers at once, and she was nice enough to get it on video for the rest of us to enjoy too. And I do have to add… most people that practice shed hunting would never be fortunate enough to find a set of antlers together like this, no matter how much they searched. This woman not only had the ability to pick up the entire shed (finders keepers), she got to watch it happen in real time.
You can view the incredible footage below:
Must be pretty cool to live in Alaska, eh? That is if you enjoy cold weather and massive animals walking around your neighborhood. I think I could get used to it…
