Snow and cold return to Kostroma fields very often in the early spring
Don't worry! Now the road is a little better than in 2013
Early spring is the only period while all the farm moose cows are prisoners
in enclosures and must eat twigs only from this pile
Males keep them company, but only until green grass appears in the
adjacent fields
In spring moose are shedding their hair, and like to be scratched.
He will stand still as long as you are able to scratch him
They are waiting for labor to come
Walking along the fence usually means that very soon the cow will give birth
A competition
Several days before parturition: preparing to
record fetal heart rates, cow's heart and respiration rates using radio
telemetry
Just born
Mother and her newborn calf
Mother and her newborn calves
Mother and her newborn calves
She is licking her calf thoroughly
Dry already
Mother from the point of view of a calf
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Mother's eye
The newborn calf is trying to get up for the first time
Trying to get up for the first time
His first steps
At the parturition place. The moose cow is not bothered by people and
their activity
At the parturition place
At the parturition place. Yawning is only a sign of inessential hypoxia
after labor
At the parturition place. The dairymaid is clipping hair around the
udder
Recording electrocardiogram and respiration rate of the animals
Last minutes together. Calves and cows will be separated in several
hours after parturition
One of the calves is just replaced with a milkmaid
A calf feels lost when no large animal is around
Following his "new mother"
Moose calves are "followers" (and sometimes "hiders", too)
Following another leader
First day of friendship
They will not spend much time on the grass
Calves are placed in cages for several days to prevent diseases
This calf has a normal body mass to survive
But this one weighed only 4.3 kg. He survived only thanks to human
help
I am your new "mother", I'll feed you with milk
Visitors must not touch newborns until they are one month old. Photography
- without restrictions
This calf is 2 weeks old
Life is quite merry here. A calf is playing
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Sometimes calves sleep in a very discomfortable pose (from human's point of view)
Milk is coming!!
The last portion of milk
Mother doesn't check her calves very often
Under investigation. This moose cow was free-ranging and raised her
calves in the natural environment. Using radio tags we could find them
for scientific research.
Under investigation (continued)
Under investigation (continued)
Under investigation (continued). Mother usually "defends" her newborn
calves against any other moose, but her last-year children want to stay
near her, too. Perhaps they can't understand why their mother became so
aggressive. See next photo.
Under investigation (continued). The attack. Mother shooing her last-year
child away from the new ones.
Under investigation (continued): Undisturbed, but attentive
Milch moose in a typical landscape
Moose is a good background for a TV-show
Ha-ha!
