Solitude or Sanctuary? Orphan Moose Part III

We have named her Baby. We watch her lumber through chest deep snow, she travels with deliberate energy-saving steps. Another blizzard hit last night at our Pacific Northwest homestead adding two more feet of freezing snow to our all ready seven foot drifts. On clear days Baby roams about the neighborhood. On blustery days she huddles beneath a large doug fir fifty feet from our back door. Here she has hallowed out a resting spot in the snow next to her feeding station and salt block. I can capture her moods and moves from my bathroom window or back porch without invading her space.

...Experts say that moose are solitary, individualistic animals desiring privacy and space. But I wonder if this orphan feels the same way. She pops into view when our truck comes down the driveway, she makes the local deer and magpies her friends and she always finds the way to her bed by sunset. As an orphan, is the inherited desire for solitude overpowered by the need for sanctuary? Of all the studies on can do on moose behavior, I don't imagine they have one that measures desire or emotion beyond sexual activity. Maybe it is only important ot me. So let it be known that the remarks I make here are strictly my own observations and commentary influenced by my own feelings and emotions.

....I believe emotions are practiced by all creatures. I have observed what appears to be contention, curiosity and concern revealed in her walk, her gaze and the twitching of her ears. Laid back the ears have been known to mean don't-get-to-close, but it could also mean she is listening for sounds from behind.* Cocked forward the ears are in position to alert her to signals that lie ahead; couriousity or cautionary. The ears outwardly erect fro her body have been known to be an expression of concentration and more intent listening.* Ears pointed down and laid back is a display of attack or merely listening to sound from below.* I always honor the 'display of attack' message just to be on the safe side.

.....She flips her fuzzy infant ears forward when she sees Marti serving her morning meal. She prances about slipping on icy paths conflicted between the need to eat and an entrenched fitght or flight response. When we are out of sight she ambles between vehicles, even wanders onto the porch because she can smell the apple box. Curiosity, I believe, has helped her expand a confort zone around us and our abode. However she remains alert and anxious keeping a respectable distance when we share the same ground. I am glad to see this morsel of fear smoldering beneath the surface. That fear will help insure a longer adult life for her after she leaves us. Till then I will do my part to make her feel safe and independent. I will sustain an enviornment where she is comfortable and adored and we both can spend some quality time trying to figure out the importance of solitude and sanctuary.

*Ecology and Management of the North Amerian Moose, Wildlife Management Institute, Compiled and edited by Albert Franzman and Charles Schwartz