The ancestors of all existing modern domestic animals were wild animals. The domestication of animals is a complex and lengthy process, so out of 8 thousand species of mammals, only 60 have been domesticated.

Before becoming domesticated, animals must go through a taming stage. Elks are the largest animals in our forests, with high fertility, early maturity and the ability to fatten. From them you can obtain a variety of dietary and medicinal products (meat, fat, milk, antlers) as well as high-quality leather raw materials. They have a highly developed central nervous system and a relatively calm character, making them easy to tame.

The most important feature of moose is their ability to feed on woody and herbaceous forest food. In summer they eat well herbaceous plants forest, forest floodplain, wetland tall grass; during the rest of the year (about 200 days) they feed on twig food, pine needles, branches and bark. They do not compete with farm animals for feed.

Young moose have high growth energy and the ability to quickly fatten. Elk calves are born with a small live weight (8-16 kg), and at six months of age they already weigh 140-160 kg.

In the second year of life in the summer, young animals grow rapidly, the average daily weight gain reaches one kilogram or more.

Moose cows have high reproductive abilities. Thus, on the Kostroma elk farm, 26 elk calves were obtained from the Arki moose cow, and 24 from Jamaica.. On this farm, a whole group of moose calves, unique in terms of milk productivity, were raised and milked. Thus, the moose cow Lustra gave 5049 liters of milk in 12 lactations, and the highest milk yield in the 12th lactation reached 552 liters.

Elk Yadra in 1999 produced 520 liters for 3 lactations. At the same time, in 2000, a record daily milk yield was obtained, which was 7.2 kg.

Moose milk is unique in its composition. It contains 25.8% dry matter, 10-11% fat, 8.3% protein, 3% sugar, 1.5% minerals, density is 43-46, acidity 34-36 o T. In August, the dry matter content substances in milk reaches 33%, SOMO 15%, protein 10%, fat 17.7%.

It contains several times more zinc, copper, manganese, cobalt, molybdenum, chromium and other essential elements than cow's milk. Moose milk is rich in amino acids: it contains more methionine, phenylalanine, alanine, histidine, aspartic acid, glycine, serine, tyrosine, and cystine than cow milk. It has high bactericidal properties.

Moose milk normalizes the motor and secretory functions of the stomach, promotes a better regeneration process of damaged stomach walls, has an anabolic effect, and protects the mucous membrane gastrointestinal tract from toxic damage by antitumor drugs, helps to normalize impaired cellular and humoral immunity. Moose milk is used to treat patients with gastric and duodenal ulcers.

The main goals of the nursery

• Maintaining integrity and ecological balance natural complexes moose habitat
• Creation of optimal living conditions for domesticated elk herds, wild elk herds, as well as other species of forest wild fauna;
• Development and implementation scientific methods protection of natural complexes in the conditions where domesticated elk herds and wild elk herds live in them;
• Carrying out environmental monitoring of the natural environment, elk and other species of forest wild fauna;
• Protection and reproduction of flora and fauna, carrying out the necessary forestry, regulatory and biotechnical measures;
• Maintaining optimal numbers of domesticated elk herds, wild elk herds and other species of forest wild fauna;
• Regulation of the number of predatory animals (wolf);
• Creation of conditions for regulated tourism and recreation;
• Intensive reproduction of a herd of elk for the purpose of game breeding, release of over-repair young animals into the natural environment for their subsequent feeding and use as a hunting object.

Goals associated with the functioning of a domesticated elk herd

The environmental nursery creates favorable conditions for preserving and increasing the elk population, replenishing wildlife through the care and targeted release of over-repair young animals. Here, moose find a calmer environment and are exposed to less anthropogenic impact - both from poachers and economic activity person. The nursery contains descendants of the 12th generation of domesticated moose. This is a unique national treasure that has no analogues in the world. Preserving this gene pool is not only a noble, but also a profitable endeavor. Medical Obtaining a unique product - elk milk for medicinal and scientific purposes; Scientific and practical nursery base for conducting biological, veterinary and medical research. It will be used to master the intensive technology of keeping elk, and to resolve issues of domestication, behavioral control, feeding, and hand milking of elk cows; Educational and educational Formation of an attitude towards the animal world as an invaluable asset of humanity, which must be preserved for future generations. The nursery is an excellent subject base for environmental education; The aesthetic Elk is a decoration of the forest. A visit to the nursery, close contact with affectionate and strong animals leaves excursionists with an unforgettable impression, has a powerful psychological effect, relieves stress, and causes joy, especially when in contact with moose calves of the milking period; Representative and tourist nursery creates an image of the ecological well-being of the region. This is used to attract tourists and business people not only from Russia, but from abroad.

Research and educational activities in the nursery

Research activities are aimed at the development and implementation of scientific methods of breeding, conservation and development of the domesticated herd of elk of a given population and the entire biological diversity, natural complexes and other objects in economic and recreational use territory, assessment and forecast of the environmental situation in the region.

Research activities are planned and carried out by scientists from the biological laboratory of the nursery with the participation of the St. Petersburg State Agrarian University.

In the nursery, issues of scientific, moose breeding, environmental recreation, forestry and educational activities are considered. Scientific and technical council, created from among specialists in the field of protection and rational use of natural resources.

The biological laboratory solves the following problems

1. Preservation of the gene pool of wild animals is the most important task of humanity, in which the nursery is involved.
2. Obtaining and preserving offspring, improving the technology of raising young animals during the dairy period;
3. Improving the technology of feeding and raising young animals in the post-milk period;
4. Protecting animals from diseases and poaching
5. Study of moose diseases in conditions of their high concentration, development of means and methods for the prevention and treatment of infectious, invasive diseases and metabolic disorders;
6. Mastering the technology of milking moose cows, consolidating useful signs behavior and increase in milk productivity of milking moose cows
7. Improving the food supply and feeding regime of moose. Expanding the food supply by creating hayfields with a clover-timothy mixture and areas for growing twigs in the intermediate felling area.
8. Improving methods for managing moose behavior;
9. Evaluation of electronic systems for searching domestic moose in the forest;

The nursery is stocked with young animals purchased from the Kostroma elk farm. At the first stage, 4 heifers and 2 bull calves were purchased, which were born in May 2000. Transportation by road in a van in which 6 individual wooden cages are mounted. The animals underwent scheduled veterinary preventive treatments, and the appropriate documents for shipment were prepared.

To intensify the reproduction of moose, adequate feeding of young animals is organized so that heifers born in 2000 are ready for the rut in the fall of 2001. To cover the heifers, a 4-year-old bull named Yakir was brought from the Kostroma moose farm. He is the son of the world record holder for milk production, the elk Yadra.

Feeding moose

Elk eat up to 175 plant genera, represented by more than 250 plant species / From large number of plants eaten by elk, the greatest preference is given to 15 - 30. The favorite food of elk is fireweed (fireweed). Undergrowth with young growth of aspen, pine, birch, and rowan is especially necessary. Moose eat well the leaves of willow, buckthorn, bird cherry, maple, ash, raspberry, aquatic and semi-aquatic herbaceous plants: watchwort, marigold, egg capsules, water lilies, horsetails, as well as fireweed, sorrel, cap mushrooms, blueberry branches, lingonberries with berries.

Elk uses about 70 species of plants, which contain alkaloids, toxins, glucosides, organic acids, lactones and essential oils.

A characteristic feature of elk is the ability to withstand a huge amount of turpentines found in pine and juniper needles, and tannins contained in the bark of willow, aspen, and rowan. Moreover, without the latter, the animal quickly dies

An adult moose eats about 35 kg of food per day in summer, and 12-15 kg in winter. In just one year, the elk eats about 7 tons of food, of which about 4 tons are shoots of deciduous and coniferous species, about 1.5 tons are leaves of trees and shrubs, about 700 kg of bark, the same amount are herbaceous plants and shrubs

The basis of the diet is wood and twig food. In winter, branches of aspen, birch, aspen bark, logging residues from the harvesting of coniferous trees - pine branches with needles. For feeding, crushed and steamed oats are used ( oatmeal) with the addition of table salt and a multicomponent mineral-vitamin complex for moose of different ages.

In summer - twig food, pasture grass and marsh vegetation. For feeding - oatmeal, table salt and clover-timothy green mass, mineral complex.

In the valley of the Svir River there is enough feeding ground for moose. The vegetation is represented by all the favorite food of elk. Of particular interest as pasture areas are the extensive clearings, which are quickly overgrown with deciduous trees - aspen, birch and shrubs - willow, bird cherry.

Veterinary preventive measures include general and specific prevention, diagnostic studies. A system has been developed for the prevention of moose diseases in conditions of high concentration on moose farms and nurseries. Recipes for complex mineral and vitamin complexes for different sex and age groups of moose, which provide reliable protection against metabolic disorders, have been developed and tested at the Kostroma Elk Farm.

Doctor of Veterinary Sciences, Professor of St. Petersburg State University V. M. Kozhurin

News about the Hunt

05/15/2012 | The thousandth calf of Sumarokovo and other news about moose (VIDEO)

Elk calves drink milk from a nipple and run races with children

The thousandth calf was born at the Sumarokovskaya moose farm in the Kostroma region. The weight of babies at birth is from five to 18 kilograms. Boys wear red collars, girls wear yellow ones.

“The name of the calf is given to the first letter of the mother’s name. We don’t have fathers, we are completely fatherless, we leave only females in the pens, we release males into the wild,” said the chief technologist of the moose farm, Dmitry Kudryashov.

First, farm employees feed the moose calves with expressed milk from a teat. They provide clay from which animals extract the necessary minerals. Then the elk begin to taste fresh leaves and grass. When babies turn one month old, they are switched to fortified milk formula.

The farm currently houses about forty animals. In order for workers to be able to find moose at any time and control their movements, a radio beacon hangs on everyone’s neck and periodically transmits signals. Thanks to special equipment, specialists can determine where each of their pets is at any time.

A calf was caught in the center of Ufa

A one-year-old wild elk, discovered this morning in the area of ​​Sovetskaya Square in Ufa, was jointly caught by environmentalists and specialists from the municipal unitary enterprise "Spetsavtohozyaystvo" and promised to be released into its natural habitat - the forest.

As the RG correspondent was told by the press service of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Republic, information about the appearance of an animal in the center of the Bashkir capital was received by the operational dispatch service of the Ministry of Ecology of the Republic of Belarus from the duty department of the city's Civil Protection Department at 6:21 a.m.

Specialists from the Department for the Protection of Wildlife Objects of the Ministry of Ecology of the Republic of Belarus, together with the City Veterinary Department and the municipal unitary enterprise "Special vehicle fleet for city cleaning" promptly arrived at the scene of the incident. With help medicines The animal was prepared for transportation outside the city. As soon as the animal comes to its senses after this procedure, it will be taken to the forest and released into the wild.

As explained by specialists from the Department for the Protection of Wildlife Objects of the Ministry of Ecology of the Republic of Belarus, in May and June, when moose babies are born, last year’s babies are left without parental supervision. At this time, one-year-old moose calves often appear in populated areas republics, including on highways, which leads to traffic accidents.

Environmentalists, taking this opportunity, once again called on drivers to be attentive and careful, especially in spring and summer.

In the Pinsk region, a family sheltered three moose calves

Because the babies were abandoned by a moose, animal welfare inspectors allowed the wild animals to be taken home

More than a week has passed since the Stepin family from the village of Zavidchitsy, Pinsk region, sheltered three newborn moose calves.

The husband works in the forest, extracting resin (resin, which is used for industrial purposes. - Ed.). And in the morning on his site he saw moose calves. They were completely weak,” Lyubov Stepina, a resident of the village of Zavidchitsy in the Pinsk region, told Komsomolskaya Pravda. - My husband had water with him, and he gave the kids something to drink. Then, in search of the moose cow, he walked around the area and even went to the swamp, but he never found the mother of the moose calf. The elk calves followed their husband through the forest until two o'clock in the afternoon, until his shift ended.

Nikolai Egorovich was so imbued with feelings for the moose calves that he could no longer leave them alone. Moreover, the moose cow never appeared. Then the man and his son transported the moose calves in the passenger compartment of a car to the forestry. But at the insistence of the forester, the kids had to be returned to the forest.

True, Nikolai Egorovich did not leave the moose calves unattended and came several times with his wife to feed them.

We bought milk, warmed it up, took a bottle with a nipple and fed the babies that way. And the next day, Sunday, in the evening, they took them to their home. The fact is that for two days there were no traces that the mother came to the elk calves,” said Lyubov Sergeevna. “On the same day, the chief livestock specialist came to us and told us how to feed moose calves, and also suggested that we take cow’s milk from the collective farm, since we don’t have our own cow.

By the way, all the moose calves turned out to be females. The Styopas kept two of them for themselves, and the neighbor took care of the little one.

The elk calves are already strong. We give them milk five times a day, and they drink 1.5 liters at a time between the two of them,” explained Lyubov Stepina. - Children come running to us every day to play with them and take pictures.

Meanwhile: Can the new “parents” of moose calves be held accountable?

Within a week, the story with the moose calves spread throughout the area, and even information appeared that the compassionate Stepins could be held accountable for illegally taking animals from the wild. However, in the Pinsk Interdistrict Animal Protection Inspectorate and flora Komsomolskaya Pravda was assured that the family would not receive any fine.

We went to the place where we found the moose calves and found out that the moose cow really had not appeared. It is difficult to explain what could have happened to her. And the fact that people took them for themselves and are caring for them is very good,” Sergei Chizhevsky, deputy head of the Pinsk Interdistrict Inspectorate for the Protection of Fauna and Plants, told KP. - Now negotiations are underway that when the moose calves get stronger, they will be transported to Belovezhskaya Pushcha.

By the way

It turns out that there is nothing surprising in the fact that the female moose gave birth to many children.

There is a lower and upper limit to how many moose calves should be born, but usually between one and three babies. This depends on the age of the moose: a young moose usually gives birth to one, and an adult moose can give birth to three,” Alexander Kisleyko, a game warden at Belovezhskaya Pushcha, explained to Komsomolskaya Pravda.

- How do you explain the fact that the moose abandoned the babies?

As far as I know, deforestation is taking place there. Therefore, the anxiety factor could have played a role. There are a number of other reasons. For example, wolves could kill a moose cow. In veterinary medicine, there are cases when a female’s placenta does not come out after the birth of offspring, and she dies from an inflammatory process.

These moose calves have not yet come up with names, but the third baby, whom the Stepins’ neighbor took care of, was named Lyusya

Attention! Moose on the roads of the Tver region!

Quite recently, a moose came out onto the Proletarka platform in Tver; on the same days, moose were seen on Tsanova Boulevard and in Yuzhny. And tonight the elk made traffic on the M-10 Rossiya highway within the regional center very difficult.

As region69.info reports, shortly after midnight, in the area of ​​the Volokolamsk interchange, a car collided with a moose running out onto the road. Fortunately, no people were injured. But the animal died and partially blocked the roadway with its carcass for quite a long time.

As commentators on this message report, the elk had been “walking” in that area for quite some time—truck drivers even warned about its appearance on the radio. “Since a moose entering the road poses a very real threat, there are many cases where collisions between a car and a moose resulted in human casualties.

In Ivanovo, on the Rabochy settlement, we caught elk all day

On May 11, at seven o'clock in the morning, a moose was spotted on the territory of a trading base in the Rabochy settlement. The elk inexplicably climbed over the high fence and tried to get back out in a panic.

Deputy Director of Ivprirokhrana Sergei Fedyaev is sure that the appearance of young moose within the city is a normal occurrence for May:

Every spring, during the calving period, moose cows drive away their one-year-old children. Those, finding themselves alone with nature, wander alone and wander into cities. The outskirts of Ivanovo are poorly lit, so elk in the city is not surprising. And that elk calf turned out to be a healthy one-year-old female.

When specialists from the regional wildlife protection service arrived at the base, local workers had already driven the frightened animal into the building.

We arrived at four o’clock in the afternoon, the elk calf was sitting in a car service in an inspection hole,” recalls Sergei Kislitsyn, the senior shift officer of the Ivanovo rescue squad. “The specialist gave an injection, immobilizing the 60-kilogram elk calf, and we loaded it into the trailer.

The elk was taken to the Ivanovo district and left in the shade under a Christmas tree. Conscious but motionless, the moose had to rise to her feet on her own.

She didn’t succeed for a long time, we helped her, she tried to kick us,” Sergei Fedyaev laughs. - On the seventh attempt, the moose cow walked into the forest with a drunken gait. We followed it three hundred meters, and the next day we returned and were convinced: the elk had returned to its natural environment.

Twenty kilometers from Kostroma there is a unique elk farm. This place has long become a must-see Kostroma attraction. What’s also interesting is that moose are bred there just, out of love for nature. And not like on the ostrich farm near Serpukhov - for meat and eggs.

So, moose (in case anyone doesn’t know) is a cloven-hoofed mammal, the most close-up view deer family.

The male's body length is up to 3 m, height at the withers is up to 2.3 m, tail length is 12-13 cm; weight 360-600 kg. Females are smaller. In appearance, the elk is noticeably different from other deer. His body and neck are short, his withers are high, in the form of a hump. The legs are very elongated, so in order to drink, the elk is forced to go deep into the water or kneel on its front legs. The head is large, hook-nosed, with an overhanging fleshy upper lip. Under the throat there is a soft leathery outgrowth (“earring”), reaching 25-40 cm. The wool is coarse, brownish-black; legs light gray, almost white.

Moose feed on trees, shrubs and herbaceous vegetation, as well as mosses, lichens and fungi. In summer they eat leaves, reaching them from a considerable height thanks to their growth; feed on aquatic and semi-aquatic plants (watch, marigold, egg capsules, water lilies, horsetails), as well as tall grasses in burnt areas and cutting areas - fireweed, sorrel. At the end of summer, they look for cap mushrooms, branches of blueberries and lingonberries with berries. From September they begin to bite off shoots and branches of trees and shrubs and by November they almost completely switch to twig food. The main winter food for moose includes willow, pine (fir in North America), aspen, rowan, birch, raspberry, and buckthorn; in the thaw they gnaw the bark. During the day, an adult moose eats: about 35 kg of food in summer, and 12-15 kg in winter; per year - about 7 tons. In large numbers, moose damage forest nurseries and plantings. Elks visit salt licks almost everywhere; In winter they even lick salt off highways.

Moose run fast, up to 56 km/h; swim well. While looking for aquatic plants, they can keep their heads under water for more than a minute. They defend themselves from predators by striking their front legs. Of the sense organs, the moose has the best developed hearing and smell; his vision is weak - he cannot see a motionless person at a distance of several tens of meters.

An elk very rarely attacks a person first. Usually an attack occurs when irritating factors or approaching moose calves.

Many times they tried to domesticate moose, milk them like cows and ride them like horses. But unlike deer, these creatures are capricious and cannot be fully trained.

Therefore, on the Sumarokovo farm they are bred only to increase the number of these animals in nature. Elks are not slaughtered for meat - I feel sorry for the animals.

In general, moose calves are very similar to kangaroos. See for yourself!