2 moose found frozen mid-fight near remote Alaska village

Life sucks when you are fighting for females. Its got to be pretty damned cold when animals adapted to arctic tundra freeze after a brawl, but not unheard of apparently. Just an odd peace out of Alaska today.
Photo Courtesy of Jeff Erickson - November 12, 2016

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Two moose were recently discovered frozen in battle and encased in ice near a remote village on Alaska's unforgiving western coast.

Brad Webster, a middle school social studies and science teacher in Unalakleet, captured images of the massive animals poking through the ice as they lay on their sides with antlers apparently locked together.

He had taken a friend who recently moved to the village for a walk on Nov. 2 near a frozen slough at Covenant Bible Camp, where Webster volunteers as a camp steward.

"That's when we saw it," he said in a phone interview Friday. He initially thought it was just one moose that had been shot but when he got a closer look, he saw the second moose.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Best news on ATS today!!! Congratulations.

The things they'll do for a piece of ...tundra.

They got shot by a freeze ray from an alien spacecraft whyke tles woxp fl.esy

I think I got zapped by one of those alien craft, you know, the type that make you mess up your words.

Interesting. I'd want to know if it was recent or if they have been there for months/years/decades/more.

Kinda like the frozen mammoths that have been found in Siberia.

a reply to: JinMI

The things they'll do for a piece of ...tundra.

hehe, the things we all do for a piece of tundra

a reply to: worldstarcountry

S&F nice article

Frozen mid-fight?..

Or, antlers got locked together, and they starved?

a reply to: JinMI

Huge tracts of land.

Poor mooses.

originally posted by: worldstarcountry
a reply to: JinMI

The things they'll do for a piece of ...tundra.

hehe, the things we all do for a piece of tundra

Hey, that phrase might just catch on. I can see kids getting bitched at for talking about going out and getting a piece of tundra.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

I'm making a WAG here that this is being blamed on global warming?

a reply to: TruthsSword

That looks to be the logical conclusion. I've seen Mule deer with their antlers locked like that and the worst scenario is that they battle till they either can't stand from exhaustion and die a slow, awful death still locked together, or one is severely injured by a tine of its foe's antler, dies and the other is left unable to free itself and eventually dies...horribly...as well. So yeah, it is impressive what price they'll pay for a piece of "tundra"... especially when those two probably watched, as they lay exhausted and freezing to death, when some young, not so well endowed (in the rack department!) suitor traipsed off into the sunset with the very lady whose favors they battled to the death for.... Good ole Ma Nature! Every guy's fickled friend/foe!

Cool article! S & F for you sir!

a reply to: Rubicon3

The best laid plans of moose and men.

They took the heads, which are still frozen and being kept for now in Webster's yard. The plan is to clean them out for mounting as bleached skulls at the Bible camp.

www.apnews.com...

originally posted by: TruthsSword
Frozen mid-fight?..

Or, antlers got locked together, and they starved?

Or, antlers got locked together, and they froze. I doubt they would starve before they froze.

soulwaxer

originally posted by: JinMI
a reply to: worldstarcountry

Best news on ATS today!!! Congratulations.

more like the saddest news..

a reply to: Tucket

Yea, well nature happens.

originally posted by: worldstarcountry
a reply to: Tucket

Yea, well nature happens.

..I wonder if they kissed and made up before they froze..

a reply to: Tucket
Obviously that would be 'unnatural', and so therefore did not happen

a reply to: worldstarcountry
Well...maybe they at least patched things up..