Early winter food habits of Manitoba moose as determined by three rumen analysis methods

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Zoology
• Main Authors: Zach, R., Crichton, V. F. J., Stewart, J. M., Mayoh, K. R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1982
• Subjects: Animal Science and Zoology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Alces alces
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z82-175; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z82-175

Early winter food habits of moose (Alces alces) from Hecla Island and Manitoba game hunting area 26 in southeastern Manitoba were studied in 1978 and 1979. Twenty-five plant taxa were identified in 86 rumen samples. In decreasing order of importance, moose fed mainly on red-osier dogwood (Cornus stolonifera), balsam fir (Abies balsamea), willow (Salix spp.), mountain maple (Acer spicatum), trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides), bog birch (Betula glandulifera), and balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera). These taxa constituted about 98% of the diet by weight. Most rumens contained several of these taxa, with some containing traces of the uncommon ones. The diet of moose from the two study areas was similar, but Hecla Island moose showed a shift in diet from 1978 to 1979. The diet was not influenced by sex or age of the moose.Three methods of food habit determination were used: presence/absence, abundance score, and dry weight. All three methods yielded very similar results. Although some rumen samples had a volume of only 0.13 L, sampling volume was not significantly correlated with the number of taxa identified per sample. Gains curves showing the cumulative total number of taxa versus successive samples collected indicated that the number of samples analyzed was adequate.