Caribou, Deer, Elk & Moose - Sounds Wild
Moose Body Heat

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Moose Body Heat

The cow moose was bedded down in the shade of an aspen grove, indifferent to the man crouched nearby. Wildlife biologist Dan Thompson pointed a thin pole at one nostril of the moose, taking the temperature of the animal's breath as she inhaled and exhaled the warm summer air of Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. The measurement provided insight into how moose deal with hot weather.

"Elk, mule deer and horses, they sweat, but moose don't sweat," Thompson said, explaining how moose dissipate body heat by breathing. He learned the moose was inhaling ambient air that was 68 degrees Fahrenheit and exhaling breath a second later that was 95 degrees. Taking 60 breaths a minute, the moose was pumping excess body heat back into her environment.

Thompson and his colleagues at the Kenai Moose Research Center are advancing our understanding of how moose cope with heat. Moose at the center are relatively tame and range in large fenced enclosures of forests and meadows, allowing biologists to approach and even handle them. By monitoring the moose and using tools like implanted thermometers that transmit the animal's body temperature, and infrared cameras that take pictures showing warm and hot areas of the body, biologists can see how moose respond to warmer summer temperatures, how air temperature affects their body temperature, and how they respond.