Clean Up

A cow moose cleans up her newly born calves. The cleaning process is thought to remove any scent from the calves, helping them avoid predators. We were lucky enough to happen upon this cow moose as she was giving birth to twins. The entire process took roughly 4 hours, during which time the cow calmly observed us as we photographed her with long focal-length lenses. When another cow moose approached the area, however, she became very agitated and charged the other moose. We returned the next day to find that the calves were already able to stand and run about. After 2 days of rest and nursing they were able to amble away from the birth site with their mother.

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