Caribou, Deer, Elk & Moose - Sounds Wild
Northernmost moose

Audio

Download Episode: Northernmost moose (MP3 file 2,304 kB)

Transcript

Northernmost moose

Early in the evening on in mid-August of 2020, residents of Utqiaqvik saw an unusual sight - a moose. Formerly known as Barrow, Utqiaqvik is on the Beaufort Sea and is the northernmost city in the United States. On that August day, that moose was likely the northernmost moose in the world.

The Colville River drainage is home to the northernmost population of moose anywhere, and Utqiagvik is about 150 miles northwest of that. Retired Fish and Game biologist Geoff Carroll, said, about ninety-five percent of the moose in the Colville River drainage stay there, but some small percentage take off on walkabouts throughout the tundra and occasionally show up in villages.

Records document two other wayward moose: One in 2016 north of Teshekpuk Lake along the Arctic coast, and another in 2014 on the Kokolik River near Point Lay.

Tundra is not moose habitat. Generally, moose habitat would normally include riverine areas with larger patches of willows.

Increased shrub growth caused by warming temperatures in the Arctic may eventually account for more moose wandering farther north, However, a current total lack of shrubbery in Utqiagvik makes this particular incident "a very fluky fascinating thing."