Editing Moose (section)

=== Antlers ===

[[File:Alces alces 8492.JPG|thumb|Growing [[antler]]s are covered with a soft, furry covering called "[[velvet antler|velvet]]". Blood vessels in the velvet transport nutrients to support antler growth.]]
[[File:Moose Skull sideview.jpg|thumb|[[Skull]] of a moose]]

Bull moose have antlers like other members of the deer family. The size and growth rate of antlers is determined by diet and age.<ref name=Rodgers2001a /> Size and symmetry in the number of antler points signals bull moose health and cows may select mates based on antler size and symmetry.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Fluctuating asymmetry in the antlers of moose ( Alces alces ): does it signal male quality? |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences |date=22 December 1993 |volume=254 |issue=1341 |pages=251–255 |doi=10.1098/rspb.1993.0154|s2cid=129492491  |issn=0962-8452 }}</ref> Bull moose use their antlers to display dominance, to discourage competition, and to spar or fight rivals.<ref name=Rodgers2001a />

The male's antlers grow as cylindrical beams projecting on each side of the head at right angles to the midline of the skull, and then fork. The lower prong of this fork may be either simple, or divided into two or three [[Tine (structural)|tines]], with some flattening. Most moose have antlers that are broad and palmate (flat) with tines (points) along the outer edge.<ref name=Rodgers2001a>{{citation|title=Moose|first=Art|last=Rodgers|publisher=Voyager Press|chapter=Appearance and characteristics|year=2001|pages=[https://archive.org/details/moose0000rodg/page/24 24–27]|isbn=978-0-89658-521-8|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/moose0000rodg/page/24}}</ref> Within the ecologic range of the moose in Europe, northern populations display the palmate pattern of antlers, while the antlers of European moose residing the southerly portion of its range are typically of the cervina dendritic pattern and comparatively small, perhaps due to evolutionary pressures of hunting by humans, who prize the large palmate antlers. European moose with antlers intermediate between the palmate and the dendritic form are found in the middle of the north-south range.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nygrén |first1=Tuire |first2=Jyrki |last2=Pusenius |first3=Raisa |last3=Tiilikainend |first4=Jan |last4=Korpelainen |title=Moose Antler Type Polymorphism: Age and Weight Dependent Phenotypes and Phenotype Frequencies in Space and Time |journal=Annales Zoologici Fennici |volume=44 |number=6 |date=2007 |pages=445–61 |access-date=May 2, 2020 |jstor=23736846 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/15167953.pdf#page=22 |archive-date=October 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211012221937/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/15167953.pdf#page=22 |url-status=live }}</ref> Moose with antlers have more acute hearing than those without antlers; a study of trophy antlers using a microphone found that the palmate antler acts as a parabolic reflector, amplifying sound at the moose's ear.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1007/s10344-007-0165-4 |title=Palmated antlers of moose may serve as a parabolic reflector of sounds |journal=European Journal of Wildlife Research |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=533–5 |year=2008 |last1=Bubenik |first1=George A. |last2=Bubenik |first2=Peter G. |bibcode=2008EJWR...54..533B |s2cid=44737101 |url=https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1221&context=scimath_facpub |access-date=2019-10-18 |archive-date=2020-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200314062052/https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1221&context=scimath_facpub |url-status=live }}
*{{cite news |author=James Randerson |date=March 20, 2008 |title=Moose's sharp hearing is attributed to antlers |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2008/mar/21/medicalresearch.animalbehaviour }}</ref>

The antlers of mature Alaskan adult bull moose (5 to 12 years old) have a normal maximum spread greater than {{convert|200|cm|sp=us}}. By the age of 13, moose antlers decline in size and symmetry. The widest spread recorded was {{convert|210|cm|sp=us}} across. An Alaskan moose also holds the record for the heaviest weight at {{convert|36|kg|0|sp=us}}.<ref name=Rodgers2001a />

Antler beam diameter, not the number of tines, indicates age.<ref name=Rodgers2001a /> In North America, moose (''A. a. americanus'') antlers are usually larger than those of Eurasian moose and have two lobes on each side, like a butterfly. Eurasian moose antlers resemble a seashell, with a single lobe on each side.<ref name=Rodgers2001a /> In the North Siberian moose (''A. a. bedfordiae''), the posterior division of the main fork divides into three tines, with no distinct flattening. In the common moose (''A. a. alces'') this branch usually expands into a broad palmation, with one large tine at the base and a number of smaller snags on the free border. There is, however, a [[Scandinavia]]n breed of the common moose in which the antlers are simpler and recall those of the East Siberian animals. The palmation appears to be more marked in North American moose than in the typical Scandinavian moose.

[[File:alces alces.jpg|thumb|Young female (''A. a. americana'') in early June.]]
After the mating season males drop their antlers to conserve energy for the winter. A new set of antlers will then regrow in the spring. Antlers take three to five months to fully develop, making them one of the fastest growing animal organs. Antler growth is "nourished by an extensive system of blood vessels in the skin covering, which contains numerous hair follicles that give it a 'velvet' texture."<ref name=Rodgers2001a /> This requires intense grazing on a highly-nutritious diet. By September the velvet is removed by rubbing and thrashing which changes the colour of the antlers. Immature bulls may not shed their antlers for the winter, but retain them until the following spring. Birds, carnivores and rodents eat dropped antlers as they are full of protein and moose themselves will eat antler velvet for the nutrients.<ref name=Rodgers2001a />

If a bull moose is [[Castration|castrated]], either by accidental or [[Chemical castration|chemical means]], he will shed his current set of antlers within two weeks and then immediately begin to grow a new set of misshapen and deformed antlers that he will wear the rest of his life without ever shedding again; similarly deformed antlers can result from a deficiency of testosterone caused by [[cryptorchidism]] or old age.<ref name='franzmann'>{{cite book
|first1=Albert W.|last1=Franzmann|first2=Charles C.|last2=Schwartz
|title=Ecology and Management of the North American Moose
|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press
|date=1997
|isbn=1-56098-775-8
|pages=97–98
}}</ref> These deformed antlers are composed of living bone which is still growing or able to grow, since testosterone is needed to stop antler growth;<ref name='bubenik'>{{cite book
|first1=George A.|last1=Bubenik
|first2=Anthony B.|last2=Bubenik
|title=Horns, Pronghorns, and Antlers: Evolution, Morphology, Physiology, and Social Significance
|publisher=[[Springer-Verlag]]
|date=1990
|isbn=978-1-4613-8968-2
|pages=79–81
}}</ref> they may take one of two forms. "Cactus antlers" or velericorn antlers<ref name='bubenik'/> usually retain the approximate shape of a normal moose's antlers but have numerous pearl-shaped [[exostoses]] on their surface; being made of living bone, they are easily broken but can grow back. Perukes ({{IPAc-en|US|p|ə|'|ɹ|u:|k|s}}<!--from this word's Wiktionary page-->) are constantly growing, tumor-like antlers with a distinctive appearance similar to coral.<ref name='franzmann'/> Like [[roe deer]], moose are more likely to develop perukes, rather than cactus antlers, than the more developed cervine deer, but unlike roe deer, moose do not suffer fatal decalcification of the skull as a result of peruke growth,<ref>Geist, Valerius (1998)'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=bcWZX-IMEVkC&pg=PA244 Deer of the World: Their Evolution, Behaviour, and Ecology]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923015358/https://books.google.com/books?id=bcWZX-IMEVkC&pg=PA244&printsec=frontcover |date=September 23, 2021 }}''. Stackpole Books. p. 244.</ref><ref name='bubenik'/> but rather can support their continued growth until they become too large to be fully supplied with blood.<ref name='franzmann'/> The distinctive-looking perukes (often referred to as "devil's antlers") are the source of several myths and legends among many groups of [[Inuit]] as well as several other tribes of indigenous peoples of North America.

In extremely rare circumstances, a cow moose may grow antlers. This is usually attributed to a hormone imbalance.<ref>[http://www.alaskapublic.org/2009/10/19/it%E2%80%99s-a-bull-moose%E2%80%A6no-a-cow%E2%80%A6/ It's a Bull Moose...No a Cow...] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120114602/http://www.alaskapublic.org/2009/10/19/it%E2%80%99s-a-bull-moose%E2%80%A6no-a-cow%E2%80%A6/ |date=January 20, 2012 }} Joe Viechnicki, KFSK – Petersburg 10-19-09</ref>