As children spend Sunday honouring their fathers, a new addition to the Vancouver Zoo has made one moose a first-time dad.
Jester, a four-year-old moose, celebrated his first Father’s Day as the parent of three-week-old female calf.
The calf’s mother, four-year-old Oakleaf, arrived at the zoo in April of last year after being transferred from the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Manitoba. She has been protecting her newborn, who has not yet been named, by keeping the young animal concealed.
“Oakleaf is doing a great job at keeping her hidden. There is a dense wooded area in the middle of her enclosure and that’s where she hides her,” said Menita Prasad, animal care manager at the Greater Vancouver Zoo.
Male moose play a minor role in raising their young and Prasad said Jester knows to keep his distance as Oakleaf cares for her calf. Since the calf has been kept mostly out of sight, there are only a few photos of her taken when she was about two days old.
“She’s probably tripled, even quadrupled in size since then,” Prasad said. “Moose calves gains weight faster than any other big game animals.”
The moose is the largest mammal in North America with a natural habitat ranging from forests at the Alaskan border to the eastern tip of Newfoundland and Labrador.
While these massive mammals are not currently threatened by extinction, Prasad noted that they are not immune to the impacts of human development.
“Moose are not at risk but are definitely affected by humans by habitat degradation. Unfortunately like most animals, habitat management is very important to their survival,” she said.
