Moose Courtship Behavior

Early Rut and Courting.

(Originally published September 19, 2014 on Best of the Tetons)

Moose are my favorite large mammals in Grand Teton National Park. They are beautiful, majestic and sometimes animated. This morning, I got to witness a behavior I’ve seen several times. I anticipated the action, found a good spot, and managed to capture much of it in my camera. (Note: These images are heavily cropped)

A mature bull moose finds a soft, sandy area and starts digging a hole. His activity catches the attention of an interested cow.

Once the hole is completed, the bull urinates (and no telling what else) in the pit. The smell is quite pungent to humans, but it’s like calogne to the cows. It seems to drive them crazy.

Even before the bull finishes his “business”, the cow is ready to knock him off the scent bed.

Today, the cow put her muzzle under the legs of the bull and lifted his rear end off the ground.

After a little touch up to the site, both are ready to lie down in the scented mix.

The cow is cautious, but motivated.

The bull is tolerant but keeps an eye on her.

Today, the pair stayed in the pit for around three or four minutes—both seemingly content.

At some point, the bull got restless and stood up.

Once up, the bull proceeded to run the cow off the spot. Later, the bull bedded down and the cow returned to lounge in the scented patch.

I’ve heard this called a Moose Wallow, Rut Pit, or Scent Pit. I’ve only ever seen it with moose. If there are two or more cows in the area, they compete for space next to the bull—sometimes becoming agitated, aggressive, and possessive. You quickly learn the pecking order. If you do a search on the Internet regarding the purpose of the bull’s dewlap, you might understand some of today’s behavior. Some biologists suggest the bulls dig the pit and fill it with their unique scent, then wallow in it to cover their body and the dewlap. Later, the bulls can be seen caressing the flank of the cows with its neck and muzzle—possibly transferring their scent via the dewlap to let other bulls know she is taken. Other biologists are not convinced the dewlap has a specific purpose at all, as some of the other bulls successfully court their cows without one.

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