The Best Moose Documentary EVER.

a large amount of Russian territory is covered with Forest man uses the forest with wood as the main produce of the forest industry because of high Transportation costs in Russia a byproduct of logging called slash is usually committed to the Flames slash and bark just happen to be food for a large Forest cow the Moose thus Time After Time the idea occurred of thousands of domestic moose herds soon after the dream became reality although not quite thousands a farm was established it has become obvious that raising Moose for their meat is very unprofitable as a result moose farming has almost disappeared nevertheless there is one farm that has not only survived but thrived it turned out that moose milk has organic properties which can be used as a remedy for peptic ulcers it has also turned out that in our modern world tame moose living free in a forest environment are very attractive to tourists furthermore it is very easy to keep moose as a domestic animal as long as you take into account its specific biological peculiarities in Winter moose have no bent to migration if human Hunters do not disturb their habitat and their forage is abundant fencing is not necessary to keep the animal near the logged or wood filling area every morning in their own accord moose walk toward feeding props as if on signal over here while waiting for the Farm Workers some of them eat yesterday's Aspen bark that was left in a tub some play lazily while waiting with an empty stomach the right to stay in the most interesting place near a camera tripod is an exclusive priv worth fighting over the breakfast of oatmeal and warm water has [Applause] arrived [Applause] while the animals are gathering near troughs the workers who will cut down trees depart for The Cutting area every moose has its own personality distinct from the others just like the human animal some occupy pens in advance While others will need to be [Applause] called [Music] y the larger moose will get more the smaller less if necessary the vet will ADD medication to the oatmeal the Gayla moment has come no someone needs a special invitation moose like to drink warm salty water after their oatmeal the breakfast dish is Aspen bark the sweetest spark is of course in a neighbor's trough when the Moose are full the Farm Workers have time to clean them of parasites the so-called moose SCE which are almost a cm long the procedure is certainly Pleasant for both the animals and the Moose raisers the youngest are trained to wear a leash a domestic moose must be controllable every moose must stay here in a secure place during the logging [Applause] operation the logging is over it is now possible to invite the moov [Applause] here the kids are tired of being imprisoned all of the obstacles are only nominal his name is LaMore and he is almost 2 years old he likes to be scratched others will be reled soon by the Moose [Music] razor the way to the freshly logged area is clear but animals with full bellies are not in a hurry the youngsters start playing [Music] [Music] like every other Forest Animal the moose live in a world of sound and scent you can see the so-called Flamin reaction which is a kind of chemical analysis of odors it is thought to have to do with the perception of certain pheromones it is possible to observe this type of reaction in the Autumn as it is a distinctive feature of the Moose rut behavior however odors caused noticeable reactions throughout the year for instance a spot of petrol on the road keyed this moose up to a state of great excitement and provoked a specific behavioral reaction the Moose beat the snow with its four Hooves then laid down to saturate his hair with this very pleasant perfume finally it is time to go to the wood cutting [Music] area yeah the forage is abundant and the animals do not need to rival each other all are acclimated to the noise of tractors but it is still necessary to be [Applause] cautious in the winter moose like to eat Aspen bark when it is thin and green moose can easily strip it off but on the lower part of the stem the bark is too thick and hard even for the mighty moose teas in order not to waste food workers will remove the bark from the trees some moose do not like ripped bark and others do not like to bend their neck during hard Frost the Aspen bark becomes too hard the Moose cannot strip it at all and so must only eat thin Birch Twigs in such cases Farm Workers debark Aspens with axes to allow the Moose to feed until full what kind of Beast is this that does not want to eat a bark similar to other deer a wild moose is timid but sometimes can be aggressive however properly trained moose can be very tame and trusting here on a farm AR man and moose are usually not separated by fences in zoos visitors can look at large animals through a fence glass net or over bar and ditch here a visitor can approach an animal touch it pet it scratch its neck or even entertain it with dainties no you're not not not speech spe I need go up the short winter day is done people leave the wood cutting area with the exception of gamekeepers who will protect the Moose against the prolific poachers man usually sleeps one time during a 24hour day in contrast moose usually have 5 to n activity Cycles after eating they will have a short rest then a rumination or chewing the cud period Then they usually sleep for about an hour and then they get up again just so many things to do now they can afford to Lounge again a fleecy winter snow protect protects well from the frost and the Moose feel comfortable in the snow drifts the long night will go by and everything repeats again in Winter Farm life is monotonous perhaps moose life was so LAX and relaxing 2,000 years ago because no men and therefore no Hunters were around then the youngest are lying close to the food but it is necessary to use a receiver to find the adults every adult moose has a radio tag on his collar we can find them in the forest if we want how good it is to spend a minute near a moose and feel the warmth of a living animal early spring makes the local roads in Russia all but impassible very soon even a tractor will have no chance of making it to the logging area in contrast the lower the snow the more mobile moose become very soon females will look for a hideaway a maternity place which we call a pation range the time has come to confine them in in the farm enclosures their maternity home these enclosures were empty all through the winter moose unsuspectingly follow their herdsmen and suddenly find themselves in an enclosure they want to escape but don't want to break the fences they will have to eat only transported food for the next several [Music] weeks [Music] [Music] [Music] a if a young moose cow decided not to come home to the farm a special Expedition is organized using a direction finding receiver we find her with the radio transmitter tag inject a tranquilizer using a [Music] crossbow and pull her home is it necessary to undertake such a severe operation in in nature Young Moose are potential immigrants as they leave their mother's home range looking for territories free of other moose but if a moose cow gave birth to her calves two or three times in the same place she will hardly change her home range and parition range imprisoning moose females in enclosures for the pre- parturition period helps moose Farmers to artificially form the Mo's home and parition ranges now only waiting for labor to come several days later the pregnant cow started a continuous walk along the fences again this is a true sign of approaching parition first flowers and first calves come out at the same time this is the most hectic and interesting period for the people working here it will last from late April until the middle of May approximately 2 or 3 weeks it's hardly possible to observe the most intimate moments of moose lives anywhere else certainly not in a zoo cage but here where conditions are quite near natural sometimes it's possible to film most interesting scenes let us try to put fragments together and see what goes on in a Spring Forest near Kosta town this is a moose female named Nat walking towards the place of her last year's labor we hear her calling a calf which is still in her uterus the Cales will come into the world about 40 minutes later despite prevailing opinion labor can be a problem even for wild animals we can regard far moose as wild because they are not decayed by artificial selection yet the hardest part of the job is done next thing to do is lick the tasty and salty amniotic fluid off something which is slightly moving [Music] sometimes moose breeders help the cow give birth perhaps in the wild this is the natural means to pull out a calf mature moose females 3 to 15 years old give birth to two calves as a rule three calves are born more often than not a record holder was lka she gave birth to four calves at the same time although mother moose licked newborn calves with wet tongues the Cal's hair becomes dry in 1 or 2 hours providing it's not raining of course a wet capf feels chilly this is the moment when a newborn calf must solve two high priority problems learn to walk and learn to get milk during the first minutes of Life a calf can raise its head and look around after about 20 minutes the calf starts trying to stand up and straighten its legs falling isn't d dangerous because the landing is usually soft it's almost impossible to get up while the mother is still licking it takes about half an hour on average to get up for the first time though the calf May stand on its legs for only a few seconds he now knows the complete solution of the first problem and the lesson is over the next time he'll rise in seconds having found her feet Nat's daughter lowers her ears and attacks the cameraman perhaps an instinct tells her that something crawling could be dangerous look how self-confident this CF is he receives the name of lunatic which means [Music] sleepwalker [Applause] with lying down is not a simple thing to do the second high priority Problem is learn how to get milk if somebody touches her underbelly a moose cow raises her High leg and opens a path to the utter sometimes she licks her nipples uter massage increases lactogenesis and teeths become more visible however finding them isn't so simple a moose nipple is very small compared to a cow nipple a calf doesn't know exactly where to find them and must learn maybe here or here maybe it's easier to find them when the mother is standing failure again finding milk seems twice as difficult as learning to walk as it takes about an hour to learn this calf found milk in about an hour for instance if a calf cannot find milk for several hours breeders help it a calf memorizes the path to the milk source after finding it only once next time he will find it confidently and faultlessly after suckling yakas yasik walks to explore the surrounding objects the exploration activity of the cath is directed towards potentially edible objects it's a matter of common knowledge that children like to put everything into their mouths and try to chew the supper is finished and now it's time for bed this is the end of the idle several hours after birth calves are taken from the mothers the only way to tame a mousse is to raise it feeding from a suckling bottle babies will live in lodging separate from the mother moose until June and during this time they will get moose milk from the hand of man later they will drink milk substitute instead of moose milk moose milk will be taken to a hospital and used for healing people in order to take the calves away from the mother and to milk a moose cow the Farm Workers must enter the parition range but a moose female usually defends the range from Intruders whether or not Cav are present other moose are treated as bitter enemies that must be banished immediately otherwise because of a following Instinct a calf may follow another animal and die of hunger without the mother's milk everyone moving inside the Invisible Magic circle of the parition range are treated as a friend while those coming from the outside are treated as foes those who were near the Cow during labor are friends in addition several other people are allowed to cross the magic border these people are well-known Farm Workers and have communicated with the animals for years Paulina vidova a senior scientific researcher has worked here since the day the farm was established Olga salosa like many people working on the farm gets more moose love than the Cales [Music] get ears down means a threat several minutes before we could see how yakra shooted Nat away from the parur rition range now Nat is in labor and she shoes yakura away sometimes moose cow will permit friends to lick the newborns this other female gave birth several days ago and she still has an instinctive eagerness to lick calves this does not happen very often and this but every everyone survives this dog's Master can work locating animals in the forest by radio this calf was refused by a 2-year-old inexperienced mother something that happens perhaps 50% of the time upon the delivery of a mother's first [Applause] baby we will do our best to avoid serious conflicts and help any animal in danger sometimes we have trouble but this isn't the case this time and there is no need of human help the mother's reaction was adequate there is work to be done during the short period when babies stay with their mother workers must watch the calves to ensure that they are sucking enough milk clip hair around the udder and milk the mousse for the first time of the year the Cal's umbilicus must be disinfected with potassium permanganate the hair hampers milking and must be removed the calf will suck this milk from a bottle later small Nirvana hardly understands that Nat is her genuine mother she follows any large moving object this is how the following reaction looks some calves are born self- dependent they don't try to be near their mother so we might see a mother following her calf in the wild such a child has a chance of losing its mother it has not proven easy to take such a calf away from its mother in this case one breeder distracts the mother's attention while another carries the calf away in his arms a man can be a substitute mother for a calf as well as a substitute calf for a cow these are the basics of moose Dairy farming calfs are in a calf house enemies are dispersed it's now time to rest or chew a forgotten [Music] towel the day after yak's calvs were taken away she still furiously defends her partur Reigns and affably meets a well-known man talking to him as if he is her own baby the term of imprisonment is over for the Moose cows who gave their calves to man a couple of days later Anga is feeling tired of the work of parture ran range defense and leaves for her habitual Forest pastures others might envy her but not for very long when her udder becomes full of milk she will come to the F on her own accord there is a large wooden box near the Moose maternity home let's look inside it [Music] life is quite merry [Music] here in cap games there are many different elements of moose Behavior this is a male tournament fight for a female this is a glimpse of future marital Behavior the right of court this is pure [Music] aggression [Music] [Music] [Applause] the smallest will be fed with heated milk from a baby bottle larger animals drink milk from [Applause] pans branches of Aspen and Willow Twigs arrive with Spruce as a [Applause] litter calves start to eat an appreciable mass of greens only when they reach 2 weeks old during these 2 weeks they test every kind of plant perhaps this is how they learn to distinguish edible plants from distasteful or even poisonous ones [Music] [Music] fore calves here are protected from the usual cold period in miday which is called black cherry cold we warm again summer comes to the Costa Forest for summer is a time for excursions for many people the Moose Farm can be a source of enjoyment by making friends with the wild of nature there are some people who would want to scratch a Moose's neck Kosta is one of Russia's tourist attractions it is a part of the popular tour known as The Golden Ring of Russia Kosta is a regional center situated on the vulga river about 350 km from Moscow 16 km Southeast from Kosta on the shore of the small POA River a small sanatorium is hidden in the deep forest unlike many other medical institutions it survived during parisia only because the moous milk is used here for peptic ulcer therapy my son suffers from a stomach disease and we are buying the second liter for him sanatorium expenses are 6,500 rues and milk 120 rues per liter I think that is okay if moose milk is selling somewhere then there must be a moose Farm somewhere with milk mousse Dairy women and of course milking machines ear early in the morning before a sweltering day when there are no gadflies or other Airborne biting insects moose cows walk towards the farm from their Forest pastures as they approach the milking Place their behavior is much like that of a wild moose approaching calves in the wild a moose often will leave the calves hidden somewhere in a meadow and go feeding this is Leica coming to the farm with calling sounds whom does she call her calves surely not for the calf house is near the milking shed but she walks past it all her love and devotion is to the dairymaid every animal here is both an individual and a flake Lea does not wait for a prompt to come to the farm from the forest but she does not want to go to the milking shed she walks St to her partur place she trained her favorite Dairy ma Olga to come here for the milking instead of the proper place in the shed it's impossible to take a milking machine here so the dairy made milks by hand foreign [Music] speee lka and lka are inseparable Twins and have to be milked together lady's pasture lies behind the field and she has to cross it when going to the farm and back to the pasture she always runs across the field maybe she finds it safer than walking yinga enters the enclosure through a so-called mouse trap or Clapper a one-way gate nja always comes up to the milking shed in time but she is always very cautious sniffing and listening before entering the shed just like a wild moose female approaching hidden calves yakra came from inside the deep forest she always moves by Gorilla Trails we see her nosing the gate maybe she will find out who went before her Jana is so stressful that it seems she is ready to flee at any moment but Ventures to enter the shed after a short delay near the gate for those who hesitate about coming this morning to the milking an audible signal is used the more Dreadful the sound that comes from the farm the more chance that a moose cow will come to save the calf from disaster Nat affects indifference to milking but at last she defers to Pina when NATA bulks only a tractor can move her adult moose seem to enjoy milking whether by machine or by hand Young primiparous Moose are not conscious of the relationship between the milking room and milking they spend 2 or 3 days in the parition area giving milk to the dairy made there now comes the time to relearn maybe someday a less stressful method will be invented to break habits not only in Moose now you see 3-year-old yaka being trained to milk this is her first lactation whereas moose Farmers have great experience such animal training will take much time and energy at last yaka is finished trying to escape milking nja after yaka is a pleasure because she is used to the way things are done here domestic moose males are allowed in the milking shed milk yield is about 2 and 1/2 L per mousse cow per day Lucy was a record holder she gave about 6 lers she was also a record holder in lifespan she lived for 20 years the milking is over now Paulina must escort nja to the gate Leica will go away by herself but only if Olga hides Twins and friends will go for a walk together yanga will spend some time testing the shed for durability from the forest side being inconspicuous her daughter yadra is playing for the spectators yadra is excited and we see a typical displacement activity eating grass run then fake a blow beloved animals are permitted to do mischievous pranks sometimes [Applause] if two of them are excited bear sport begins you had better get out of the way otherwise you could accidentally become hurt at times situations can become dangerous for people but as a rule moose breeders interact with the animals in a friendly manner nevertheless it's necessary to know the animal behavior well and respect recognized safety regulations moose cow will protect Dairy Maids as if the dairy Maids were the cow's Cales for instance Leica defends Olga against real and imaginary enemies that's why visitors or new workers must not try to make acquaintance with a cow in the presence of the dairy [Music] made after the morning milking Yak gets leted out into a meadow to graze it's clear that spring is over summer has come and there all energy knowledge and experience must be directed towards riddance of biting insects the first trick is to walk through a Thicket now the Flies are stinging less and moose can think of what to do next yakra has decided to lay down in the shade in a bog bath imagine how her udder will look when she comes to milk this evening Birds deal successfully with the task if gnats are not too abundant the river is the last resort when gadflies are ready to eat moose alive unlike yakra Linda will be clean for her milking domestic moose have a very effective protection against gadflies that is unavailable to their wild relatives a dark shed in addition moose are admitted to almost any room in the farm buildings and each can choose a corner he [Music] likes some even enter forbidden rooms for example yanga is skilled in opening doors in Spring and early summer however not every moose can enjoy freedom to the fullest yearlings and 2-year-old animals are forced to spend much of their time in enclosures the fact is that young animals have less allegiance to their home ranges than the adults in the wild they frequently migrate away from their mother's home range looking for places far away from noise and disturbances the same can happen to domestic moose because new human development is crowding out the Moose even from the nature Reserve area that's why young animals usually have to be kept behind fences pict fed with oatmeal and transported tree branches and twigs in summer moose require more food several times more than in Winter during a short summer an animal must accumulate a reserve Mass before a long foodless winter this is a natural adaptation mechanism to a hard life in the north TAA hence it's very difficult to feed growing moose freely in summer come here come here r r for in an ordinary Zoo you will never enter a zoo [Music] cage this isn't a zoo it's far better here you can touch an animal in a more natural surrounding this evening we venture a small moose to catch a great one animals will feed and grow better by Grazing In free pastures so this evening young moose are taken to a forest from enclosures there's a risk that some animals will not come back leaving the farm and their breeders yearlings would rather graze near a river in a forest throughout the whole night at the beginning of Summer moose don't look their best because they are shedding their hair early in the morning moose razors will come to the forest calling youngsters to their oatmeal breakfast [Music] foree spe spee [Music] good animals will spend the daytime in dark sheds hiding from gadflies a radio Direction finding receiver holds the course into a Thicket in June all the domestic moose calves were released from a calf house and the only way to find them in a deep forest is to use radio tag transmitters sewn inside their collars this bird's alarm is false these people came into the forest without guns not for the so-called Bounty of nature it's time to go home to the place of of extra feeding [Music] in the early summer newborns get pure mousse milk later on they will get milk substitute and in August some oatmeal is added calves like the extra feed as if it were suckling milk [Music] [Music] [Music] keep Cals can hide from flies in their own shed children establish friendships easily the more contact between people and Cales the more communicable and good Natures the Cales will be when they grow up I hope people will also become a little bit better thank you during a heat wave a good idea is to go to the POA River for a swim when the heat of day is over Cals can be led to the for forest for grazing look they get extra feed three times a day and after supper we'll go across the river again yeah the Moose breeders wait until calves eat their fill and then go to bed now humans must go away as inconspicuously as possible so that the calves will be bound to the place and stay within 1 to 200 M the forage is abundant here the next morning Farm Workers will come and call the young for breakfast in September mushroom Harvesters can meet moose couples the m season lasts from mid September until early October in European Russia hand reared animals of the kostroma Moose Farm behave like their wild relatives During the ruding period at the end of summer moose eat a lot to accumulate fat for the winter the closer the winter the the less forage there is in the forest and farm moose often go out to the Open Fields the hay was harvested here in July and the aftermath Clover is quite attractive for female moose a male is here too waiting for a female to become well disposed towards him the sound like a pig grunting is a male's pleading for love the female's m means no m a male will follow a female for up to a week losing and refining her scent good w he doesn't even have time to eat Hunters say that he can lose up to a quarter of his Mass during the rut period sometimes he feels annoyed by her intractability and she has no more time to even swallow the Clover a race starts a tedious waiting starts again sometimes it's necessary to struggle before a short period of conjugal happiness Only the strongest must procreate if there are no competitors fighting Shrubbery is a good release a tournament fight through a fence is absolutely harmless even for a very young buck h w you see a moose cow coming to a pit hole and some cases during the rut period the Moose urine has a smell which is both attractive and agitating for males and females excited animals dig holes with their Hooves flop down into the holes and wallow in them trying to saturate their hair with the inviting perfume the role of this right in Moose mating behavior isn't fully understood yet but it's evident that this right brings the female into estris and odors obviously facilitate search in forest for moose breeders the smell is an indicator of approaching estris in a cow it's morning again the female is here but where is the buck over here too and the cow says no again a Snoopy Fox Cub is a little frightened but still wants to know what's going [Music] on oh wait it's a better idea to hide there are too many of you here h a female in estris can suddenly desire to approach a buck the smell of a pit hole will attract and excite her even more m at a pit hole the animals exchange sound smell Visual and even tactile signals when a male feels certain that a cow is ready for coupling it takes only several seconds sorry for the poor quality this is my old amateur film sometimes discretion was the better part of valor and we had to flee forsaking making expensive camera equipment a hay stack is a reliable Refuge after successful coidus a buck does not spend much time with the Beloved in several minutes he leaves her and looks for another a cow will lie for a while in a pit hole then walk to her favorite pasture or the farm September is typically the last month of moose milking on the farm the lactation period in a moose last for only four or 5 months nevertheless animals scattered in adjacent forests habitually come to the milking shed to meet their Dairy women get a bucket of oatmeal or a piece of brown bread the farm has its own tame bucks but they are too young only four to 6 years old a 4-year-old male can impregnate a cow but only if there are no adult males around young Farm males cannot satisfy all of the farm C the only hope of those left out is to meet a wild male long ago large powerful wild moose males gathered here every September paying no attention to the Farm Workers they fought for the females breaking fences and coming up into the milking shed it's hard to find them now because of excessive hunting and poaching and the farm cows must scour about senting and searching for them the youngsters are only learning Now 1 and 1/2-year-old buckss only look like adults when oatmeal is dished out all the mating behavior is completely forgotten for in the Autumn Young Moose don't go far away from the farm because food is insufficient in the forest and here they have abundant oatmeal and clover [Music] newborns grow fast and everything here is like in the summer but with less swimming oatmeal is given only twice a day although the portions are larger half a bucket sleep is appropriate after meals [Music] long legs are needed for a marsh but here on a field a knee stand is comfortable this year Cals will have enough food until the snow comes no flies no gats no Hunters non stressful days fore this is the first snow moose are well adapted to the weather and don't mind the cold but their tracks are visible on the snow and hunting and poaching starts immediately after a snowfall although gamekeepers have increased in number the farm loses to poaching two or three milk moose and some males and youngsters every year only the heroic efforts of Farm Workers can prevent the farm from Extinction [Music] when snow cover becomes stable the Moose will be taken to the wood cutting [Music] area food is abundant there and gamekeepers can guard a smaller area far more effectively a Long Winter is ahead what are moose Farms necessary for first of all a moose Farm gives us rare moous milk to heal peptic ulcers some kinds of radiation sickness and other diseases second a moose Farm is an ecological Education Center a one species zoo that provides a unique opportunity for close interaction between people and intelligent forest animals third a moose Farm is a scientific laboratory where living animals can give us valuable information and finally a moose Farm is a center of nature conservation moose reproduction resettlement and number restoration a genome Reserve tame animals are best fitted for creating new moose breeding centers

Channel: John Prior

Views: 2,066,746

Keywords: moose, russia, russian moose, me talking

Id: 2UZpOvnAL_M

Length: 94min 15sec (5655 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 06 2017