Hello Andy.

30 Jun 08 20:41, you wrote to me:

 M3>> I didn't think there were any Meese in Briton...

 AB> ?

Meese... Plural for Moose... the noble beast upon who's antlers this fine echo rests.

A little more info for any participants who may be informationally
challenged on this issue:

MOOSE (Alces alces)
====================
The North American name for the largest extant species in the deer family.
The same animal is called the Elk in Europe. The name moose is derived from
the Algonquian Eastern Abnaki name moz, meaning "he trims,
shaves". Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males;
other members of the family have antlers with a "twig-like"
configuration. In North America, Elk refers to the second largest deer
species, Cervus canadensis.

Habitat and range
=================
Moose typically inhabit boreal and mixed deciduous forests of the Northern
Hemisphere in temperate to subarctic climates. In North America, the Moose
range includes almost all of Canada, most of central and western Alaska,
much of New England and upstate New York, the upper Rocky Mountains,
Northeastern Minnesota, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula and Isle Royale in
Lake Superior.

Isolated moose populations have been verified as far south as the mountains
of Utah and Colorado. In 1978 a few breeding pairs were introduced in
western Colorado, and the state's moose population is now more than 1,000.
In Europe, Moose are found in large numbers throughout Norway, Sweden and
Finland. They are also widespread through Russia.

Moose were successfully introduced on the island of Newfoundland in 1904
where they are now the dominant ungulate, and somewhat less successfully on
Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Ten moose were also
introduced in Fiordland, New Zealand in 1910, but they were thought to have
died off. Nevertheless, there have been reported sightings that were
thought to be false until moose hair samples were found by a New Zealand
scientist in 2002.[4] In 2008 Moose (or Elk) were reintroduced in to the
Scottish Highlands.

Physical characteristics
========================
Antlers
=======
The male's antlers arise as cylindrical beams projecting on each side at
right angles to the midline of the skull, which after a short distance
divide in a fork-like manner. The lower prong of this fork may be either
simple, or divided into two or three tines, with some flattening.

In the North Siberian Elk (Alces alces bedfordiae), the posterior division
of the main fork divides into three tines, with no distinct flattening. In
the Common Elk (Alces alces alces), on the other hand, this branch usually
expands into a broad palmation, with one large tine at the base, and a
number of smaller snags on the free border. There is, however, a
Scandinavian breed of the Common Elk in which the antlers are simpler, and
recall those of the East Siberian animals.

The palmation appears to be more marked in North American Moose (Alces
alces americanus) than in the typical Scandinavian Elk. The largest of all
is the Alaskan subspecies (Alces alces gigas), which can stand over 2.1 m
(7 ft) in height, with a span across the antlers of 1.8 m (6 ft).
Typically, however, the antlers of a mature specimen are between 1.2 m (3.9
ft) and 1.5 m (4.9 ft).

The male will drop its antlers after mating season in order to conserve
energy for the winter. A new set of antlers will then regrow in the spring.
Antlers take three to five months to fully develop, making them one of the
fastest growing organs in the world. They initially have a layer of skin
called felt which is shed off once the antlers become fully grown. Immature
bulls may not shed their antlers for the winter but instead retain them
until the following spring.

If a bull moose is castrated, either due to accidental or chemical means,
he will quickly shed his current set of antlers and then immediately begin
to grow a new set of misshapen and deformed antlers that he will wear the
rest of his life without ever shedding again. The distinctive looking
appendages (often referred to as "devil's antlers") are the
source of several myths and legends among many groups of Inuit as well as
several other tribes of indigenous peoples of North America.

Average size and weight
=======================
On average, an adult moose stands 1.82.1 m (67 ft) high at the shoulder[6].
Males weigh 380-720 kg (850-1180 pounds) and females weigh 270-360 kg
(600-800 pounds).[7] The largest confirmed size for this species was a bull
shot at the Yukon River in September 1897 weighing 818 kg (1,800 lb) and
was 233 cm (92 in) tall at the shoulder.


--- GoldED/W32 3.0.1