BACKGROUND - Canadian Rockies: Including Banff and Jasper National Parks - page 503

Banff and Jasper, often nonchalantly wandering along streets and feeding on tasty plants
in residential gardens.
Elk are the most common large mammals in the Canadian Rockies.
Moose
The giant of the deer family is the moose, an awkward-looking mammal that appears to
have been designed by a cartoonist. It has the largest antlers of any animal in the world,
stands up to 1.8 meters (six feet) at the shoulder, and weighs up to 500 kilograms (1,100
pounds). Its body is dark brown, and it has a prominent nose, long spindly legs, small eyes,
big ears, and an odd flap of skin called a bell dangling beneath its chin. Apart from all that,
it's good-looking. Each spring the bull begins to grow palm-shaped antlers that by August
will be fully grown. Moose are solitary animals preferring marshy areas and weedy lakes,
but they are known to wander to higher elevations searching out open spaces in summer.
They forage in and around ponds on willows, aspen, birch, grasses, and all aquatic veget-
ation. They are not particularly common in the Canadian Rockies, numbering around 400.
Although they may appear docile, moose will attack humans if they feel threatened.