I am trying to improve my understanding of moose browsing behavior. One basic question is whether browsing on woody vegetation can tell us anything about the orientation of the moose's head. The following are videos I have watched that feature moose browsing on woody vegetation.
- moose eating trees
- Moose Eating Tree
- Moose Browsing in Winter
- moosing eating tree
- Alaskan moose cow and calf browse on budding tree branches
- Moose fences to protect ... trees?
- Bull Moose browsing tree branches in Maine
- Albino moose getting drunk on apples and fighting the local lawnmower to the death! (just at the beginning)
- Bull Moose browsing in meadow at 11,000 feet.
- Moose Browsing in Platte River Wilderness
- North Platte River Adventure (at t=39s)
From these videos I have made some inferences.
- For really short trees and brush a moose is might feed on buds from above.
- Depending on the height and thickness of the central stem of a bush or tree, a moose might bite on it sideways to bend/break it into a horizontal orientation.
- For branches off the side of larger trees I see that often the moose's head comes from roughly perpendicular to the branch rather than straight-on.
Is it more generally known that moose tend to browse from the side (i.e. roughly perpendicular) to branches on (larger) woody plants rather than straight on?
