Early one morning I found this bull and cow at the far end of the campground, between the trees and the road. He was patiently courting her, with not much going on, really. Then along came a younger bull. The mature bull chased that would-be suitor away to the west and then both he and the cow laid down.
The younger bull was not discouraged and tried another approach, going behind us and easing through the trees to the east of the bull and cow this time. The mature bull was up and
after the persistent one yet again. The younger one backed off.
Then from the west came another bull, this one was big and mature and definitely not one that would simply turn away. This time they went through their ritual of walking near each other while tilting their heads. This seems to be a bit of a threatening action, very slowly done. This went on for a few minutes then each turned 90º towards the other and they were engaged instantly.
The action went on for a few minutes then the loser disengaged and left. It was very intense while they were together and it ended as quickly as it began. There wasn’t a second go ’round that I saw.
There is a great deal of respect demonstrated between all the moose, between the bulls and cows, bulls and bulls or cows and cows, though the latter will mix it up a bit once in a while. Not sure if that is jealousy, competitiveness or protecting a calf.
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