Wildlife

Migrating Moose

A changing ecological landscape in western Canada is allowing some moose to lumber from their traditional forest and Rocky Mountain habitats into prairie farmland, where they have hardly been seen before in significant numbers.

Declining private homesteads on the prairie in recent decades, and the disappearance of predators such as grizzlies and wolves, appear to be convincing the antlered grazers that it’s safe to scavenge grain spilled during the harvest. The moose even sometimes wander into the suburbs of cities such as Calgary.

“For an animal that is used to eating splintered wood most of the winter, all this spilled grain and canola is … a great banquet for them,” said wildlife biologist and author Chris Fisher.