Moose

. Maine’s official state animal is the moose.

. In Maine, moose are mainly found among the western mountains, in the Kennebec and Moose river valleys, and Aroostook County.

. The largest moose on record stood 7.7 feet tall, with an antler spread of 79 inches. An average moose stands about 6 feet tall.

. An average male moose, or bull, weighs between 1,200-1,600 pounds. Females, or cows, weigh about 880 pounds.

. Moose eat up to 50 pounds of vegetation per day. They eat the leaves, twigs and buds of hardwoods, softwoods and shrubs. They also eat waterlilies, and other aquatic vegetation. In the winter, they eat woody plants, like the twigs and bark of willow trees, balsam, birch, aspen and dogwood.

. Moose can move both their ears independently, as well as their eyes. Strangely, moose have no top front teeth. Their antlers can be deformed from injuries or poor nutrition.

. There were no laws to protect moose until 1930. By this time, unrestricted hunting, clearing forestland for farming, and brain-worm caused by a rising deer population were killing moose and had reduced the population to about 2,000. Laws to regulate hunting and improve habitat helped their numbers recover, and now the moose population is estimated at about 29,000.

. In 1999, 89 percent of hunters with any moose permits killed a moose, and 79 percent of those with antlerless permits killed a moose.

. Because moose are so large, they often look closer than they are, and hunters need to keep this in mind when estimating the distance of a moose when they shoot.