With the critters coming out of the woodwork and into town for the spring buffet, there is one particular lady I always enjoy seeing, Mama One Eye. If you have followed my Life in Nature Facebook page for any length of time, you likely have seen her before. There is no other single moose I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with, as she has been around for many, many years. Along with the others making their way into town this time of year, she will usually be seen on the west side of town, following either the Boulder Creek waters or those of North Beaver Creek in the Caribou valley. Moose being territorial in their feeding grounds, the highway is typically the invisible line drawn as the eastern edge of her wanderings.
Her name is fairly obviously derived from an injury received well over a decade ago that left her right eye now a seemingly empty socket. In the accompanying image it may be hard to distinguish, and often times when encountering her in person she will turn her head to better utilize her left eye, making it difficult to identify her. Moose are known to not have the greatest eyesight to begin with, so she has to use every advantage she can get. Regardless of what can very easily be a difficult injury for any wildlife to overcome in terms of survival, especially from predators, she has done amazingly well for herself and has gone on to birth and raise many generations of our young ones.
In the summer of 2017 she even “adopted” a third, as she had borne a set of twins that spring, and later in the summer was seen with an extra baby with no other females present. While it is not seen a lot, it is not unheard of for a female moose to adopt when a parent is killed or unable to raise their young, and sometimes even simply take a baby from another mother. Generally this might happen if the adopting mother has lost a child already, as to do so her body needs to be actively producing milk for nursing, but in this case she was already feeding her own. It was never apparent where the third came from, but she seemed quite content and happy to raise it along with the other two.
Seen in this image captured a few years ago, she had come into Old Town with her yearling to feed on the fresh aspen shoots and new grass popping up in people’s lawns. She gave me a casual portrait look after my usual cheerful greeting before returning to her hardy graze. Quite an amazing, strong and resilient mother and matriarch to enjoy the company of, so if you happen to be in the Old Town area or the mouth of Caribou valley over the next month, keep your eyes out and give her a warm hello if you notice that distinguished look, as it’s always good to let any moose know you are there, especially if she can’t see one whole side of her field of view!
Originally published in The Mountain-Ear
