Moose paddles versus elk antlers… which one wins?
There’s always a heavyweight fight going on somewhere out in nature. Most of the time, we humans aren’t lucky enough to see them play out. But on occasion, one of us (usually someone who is a wildlife photographer for a living) is in the right place at the right time, and gets the showdown on video for the rest of us to enjoy.
The footage below of an elk and a moose squaring off comes out of Rocky Mountain National Park, and was captured by Good Bull Guided. It’s estimated that over 280,000 elk live in Colorado, which is enough to give the state the honor of housing the largest concentrated population of elk in the world. That type of population brings in tourists from all over the planet.
Rocky Mountain National Park is home to over 60 different mammals, so it’s a great spot to visit and keep an eye out for some of the larger land mammals. Another member of the deer family (the largest, to be exact) – the moose – can also sometimes be spotted in the Rocky Mountain National Park, though they aren’t as abundant as elk.
There are only about 3,000 moose in the state of Colorado, so while it’s very common to see an elk, it’s a little more rare to see a moose. Seeing the two together? I’m not mathematician, but I’d guess the probability of that is even lower. Seeing the two distant relatives square up their antlers? That might be considered one of those once-in-a-lifetime occurrences.
Though this fight didn’t bring the antler and moose paddle clashing that most would enjoy to see, it still delivers. As you’ll see, the elk and the moose, who are both younger (thus around the same size for now), walk right up to each other in an open field framed by towering trees. It appears to be a bit of a “sizing up” session before they both take off and run right next to each other.
The elk prances with its chin held high in order to make itself look larger. The moose, on the other hand (or hoof?), runs along rather normally, and doesn’t appear to be even the least bit frightened by the elk. It keeps a close eye on its counterpart, but doesn’t try to do anything extra like the elk does with its head and antlers.
Check it out:
“What a wild encounter this morning between these two young bulls.”
There’s not necessarily a winner in this battle… but if there were, I’d say the victory goes to the moose for staying level headed (literally).
More importantly, it was just an amazing sight to see an elk and a moose interacting with one another. Social media users were grateful they got to see the video of the two animals, and left comments below the post like these:
“I wonder if they know they’re different.”
“So cool to see them gait side by side.”
“The elk holds his head up to look bigger …the moose doesn’t have to.”
“Now there’s something you don’t see every day.”
“What a beautiful sight – and are they aware that they’re distantly related?!”
I sure hope so.
