Orphaned Moose Part 1

Many thanks to R. of Illinois for sending in the photographs—here’s the gist of the story that came with them.

A moose calf was in distress in a creek, when a man came along and got him out. The man tried to find the calf’s mother and send him on his way but eventually the calf stumbled back into the creek and had to be rescued yet again. Mom never appeared and the calf, as calves will, ended up following the man home for want of anything better.

The man only had a small cabin so he took the moose to a neighbor’s house and the neighbor shot these photographs.

The next day the duo took the calf to a woman who rehabilitates these kinds of orphans and after checking him out, Calf was put into a pen with a new buddy, an orphaned fawn.



Notice that Calf is pretty much dried out and enjoying every drop of formula. While the man's sweatshirt still looks pretty soggy. Considering the size of a grown moose, this little guy is very young.

And too young to know that he shouldn't really be letting people get close enough to pet him. In fact being that he followed the man home, calf isn't completely clear on what to follow. That's a very young animal.

The dog has that long suffering look. Undoubtedly Dog has been told to leave Calf alone. This is a well behaved dog who from his expression would love to either be snuffing the moose or drinking his milk. But being a good dog, he's just doing a little suffering over the matter. If you don't look maybe the interloper will go away.

Having had some sustenance and warmth, Calf perks up and is ready for more.

He now follows the woman into the kitchen and YIKES!

Look at Calf's ears and concerned expression. I suspect he's seeing himself in the reflection of the glass fronted dishwasher.

Blogger as usual is being picky about the number of photos per post, so now it's time to scroll down to the next section, Orphaned Moose Part 2, for the rest of the pictorial.

Orphaned Moose Part 2

Long suffering dog has retired to his bed to think about his troubles, and what does the new beastie do? He comes right over and noses him. It's difficult being a good dog sometimes.

Yummy! There's more. And this time with the added attraction of a delivery method that will satisfy his urge to suck.

And like most all babies, a full stomach brings on a satisfying nap. Just look at that little hoof.

Yeah, I know, it's me and feet again. Though in this case I'm thinking of his mother delivering him.

He's been checked out, had lunch,

and a nap, dealt with two dogs, both long suffering , what now?

The rehabber not having any other orphaned moose, it's a rule of thumb to try to put an animal with it's own species, or as close as you can come. In this case another herbivore with somewhat similar habits, a fawn. Though if you ask me, Fawn doesn't look overly thrilled.

And Calf is looking semi-hysterical himself. Look at those eyes and leg position.

Fawn makes the first contact. Actually this makes sense as I spoke to someone yesterday who knows much about deer and he told me that deer though wary, are also outrageously curious about new odors.

Not being able to stand not getting a good snuff, Fawn overcomes her shyness and goes for it. Calf is holding but he's also in a stance that can get him out of reach with one jump if necessary.

Before long, they'll be playing in between bouts with their respective bottles.

Donegal Browne

Morning Chipmunk

As I've been taking photos of the Thresheree for the club, I've been staying onsite. This morning when I crawled blearily out of my tent, I saw I had company. There was an Eastern Chipmunk, Tamias striatus, sitting on a piece of old weathered wood about 15 feet away. And unlike Chewy this Chipmunk did not bolt at the sight of me. He looked wary for a moment


Then picked up something and began to eat. Just like Pancake the Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrels, Chipmunks are also omnivores. They eat grain, nuts, worms, fungi, bugs, plus bird's eggs. In a way, they are teeny avian predators who are sometimes eaten by larger birds themselves.


The something may be a kernel of corn as that is one of the grains that's grown on the property and looks about right from the little I can see. The other grains are sorghum and wheat, both of which tend to be smaller and more oblong.


Thresh is keeping an eye on me but he still isn't going anywhere. Eastern Chipmunks do stash food for winter and they are larder hoarders. They store all their food in one place, their burrow and live there until Spring. Whereas, some Western Chipmunks, there are 23 species in the west, can be scatter hoarders--a little here, a little there. (The only other Chipmunk species is in Asia.)


I must have moved a little too fast as he's stopped chewing momentarily.


Back to noshing, things must be okay again. Eastern Chipmunks have two litters a year, whereas, in the West, one litter is the norm.


While Thresh is looking for another tidbit, I'll tell you a tidbit I discovered about Chipmunks. I always wondered why mycorrhizal fungi, the fungi that helps many of our tree's roots to efficiently absorb water, didn't produce air spores to spread itself.

Chipmunks turn out to be the answer.

They are a chief starter of tree seedlings because of their food stashing habits. And part of the food they stash and never eat are the seeds for trees.

Well, it turns out that as the Chipmunks evolved along with the trees, the mycorrhizal fungi spores are dispersed by the Chipmunks along with the tree seeds that they cache. They have what's called a symbiotic mycorrhizial association with underground fungi and the underground fungi have since lost their ability to spread their spores through the air.


Thresh checks around for more breakfast.


Nothing else being apparent on his old log, Thresh gives me a last look before scampering down the side and disappearing into the foliage. Personally he's not in the least interested in the fact that he has a symbiotic association with anything.


Donegal Browne
P.S. My email box has been down for two days. It should be back in running order very soon.