What is the difference between an elk and a deer? What is the difference between these two animals? It would seem that everything is obvious. If you look at them from the side, then an adult will immediately understand how an elk differs from a deer. Well, if you try to explain it in words, for example, to a child who asks this question, then everything will turn out to be not so simple.
The same
From the point of view of the baby, these animals are very similar. Both have large branched horns, hooves and a short tail. And, in general, he is right in that he does not understand how the moose differs from a deer. After all, they are relatives. The moose is essentially a deer, which is why it is so similar to its fellow. But there are distinguishing features, to explain which, it is necessary to conduct a comparative analysis of these two individuals.
Swap bodies
You should start with the appearance. Although the comparison here may play a trick. If the question of how a deer differs from an elk is answered with horns, this will not be entirely true, although the difference is obvious. To understand this, you need to ask yourself one more. If you put the antlers of an elk to the head of a deer, then who will succeed? Really moose? Of course not. This means that this distinguishing feature is not suitable. The fact is that only a complex of various traits in the aggregate constitutes the image of one or another animal. Therefore, it is so difficult to explain how the moose differs from a deer. And is it necessary to do this? It is better to say that this is one species of animals that differ in external data, habits, way of being.
What is the difference between an elk and a deer?
This animal is very large. There are males of three meters in length, two meters in height and weighing 500-700 kilograms. Females also have rather large dimensions, although not the same as males. Deer do not weigh more than 400 kilograms. Moose live in forest and forest-steppe zones. In Russia, they live most of all in Western Siberia, Yakutia, the Ussuri Territory. They can also be found in northern Europe and in Canada. In search of food, moose do not go beyond the boundaries of the habitat.
These animals can be recognized by the massive body and thin limbs that end with hoofs with leathery membranes. This structure helps the moose to search for food in marshy areas and in dense thickets. Thanks to this, he can get inaccessible food and thus survives in winter and early spring. The antlers of a moose, in contrast to deer outgrowths, are wide and flat. They fully take shape by the age of five and grow not up, but parallel to the surface of the earth. The males grow a beard. Moose do not look as elegant and sophisticated as their counterparts. They differ in their habit of living alone or in married couples with cubs. Deer are kept in herds consisting of a male and 7-15 females.
Artiodactyls
Another interesting feature is the elk's love of water, in which he escapes from heat and blood-sucking insects. Often it lies, having plunged into a reservoir, and eats, without leaving there. In this case, algae, moss, coastal plants, which he can reach, serve as food. At other times, he often, at least twice a day, comes to a watering place. If he likes an underwater plant, an elk without fear will lower its head under water and grab its teeth with green teeth. Soon after birth, the mother teaches moose calves swimming, so it is not surprising that adults do it with pleasure, can move in water at a speed of 10 km / h. In winter, they go on the ice, while other deer are afraid to do this. But moose does not slip wide hooves help.
