Alces alces Gray 1821

• Main Authors: Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Lynx Edicions 2011
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Chordata; Mammalia; Artiodactyla; Cervidae; Alces; Alces alces; Alaska; alce; Siberia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6587449; http://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A087C4FFDDFFDCFFB4FE48EE7DF8A4

34. Moose Alces alces French: Elan / German: Eich / Spanish: Alce Other common names: Elk (in Europe); Caucasian Moose (caucasica) Taxonomy. Cervus alces Linnaeus, 1758, Sweden. Early Alceini appeared in the Middle Miocene of central Siberia, about three million years ago. Modern Moose first occurred early in the Late Pleistocene, about 100,000 years ago, in Eurasia, and entered North America only about 10,000-14,000 years ago. The analysis of mtDNA revealed three haplogroups, one entirely Asian, one primarily European, and one North American. North-eastern Siberia can be identified as the origin of all the extant lineages. East Siberian and Alaskan Moose have similar body size and antler design but are not closely related. The race caucasica (Vereshchagin, 1955) from the Caucasusis extinct. Eight extant subspecies are recognized. Subspecies and Distribution. A.a.alcesLinnaeus,1758—fromScandinavia,Finland,BalticstatesandPolandEtotheYeniseyRiver. A.a.americanaClinton,1822—ECanada(COntariotoNewfoundland). A.a.andersoniPeterson,1950—fromBritishColumbiatoMinnesotaandOntario. A.a.buturliniChernyavsky&Zhelesnov,1982—NESiberiaandKamchatka. A.a.cameloidesMilne-Edwards,1867—NMongolia,Ussuriland,NManchuria. A.a.gigasMiller,1899—AlaskaandYukon. A.a.pfizenmayeriZukowsky,1910—fromCSiberiatoStanovoyMtsandCherskiyMts. A. a. shirasi Nelson, 1914 — from S Alberta to Wyoming and Utah. Descriptive notes. Head—body 250-300 cm for males (bulls) and 240-290 cm for females (cows), tail 12-16 cm, shoulder height 190-210 cm (bulls) and 185-200 cm (cows); weight of adult bulls 300-600 kg and adult cows 280-460 kg. The heaviest animals occur in eastern Siberia and Alaska (with records of more than 770 kg for bulls and 600 kg for cows), the lightest in the Amur region and Manchuria (with some bulls weighing just 260 kg). Bulls are on average 25-30% heavier than cows. The largest extant deer, with massive trunk, short neck, shoulder hump, long and pendulous nose, very small bare rhinarium, long dewlap (“bell”) from the throat; large ...