UAA field laboratory class on moose nutrition attracts biology undergrads, Russian ecology professors

 

Monty was the center of attention. A clutch of humans watched his every move: college students with pens and notebooks, a state wildlife biologist, and three professors-two of them Russian.

Monty is tall, dark and-sort of handsome. He's also a great dinner date, which is how he got this special culinary assignment.

So there he stood-inside a fence stocked with some of his favorite hors d'oeuvres-10 branches of cottonwood and 10 branches of aspen, anchored at precise distances along the wire enclosure.

He stepped up to one branch; fleshy brown lips parted; big square teeth took a bite. A low murmur hummed from the college students as they recited and recorded precisely the moment he took a bite, how many bites he took, whether he looked anxious, when he moved on to the next branch. He had 20 minutes to work the appetizer line-up and reveal whether the cottonwood or the aspen most tickled his fancy.

Now, Monty's known for keeping his focus around food. Except, today. The visiting Russians, having snapped the photos they needed, retreated. And Monty watched, with great interest, as they tromped awkwardly through deep snow all the way back to their distant car. Tick tock, tick tock, and the clock ran out on this timed trial that was an ecology lab for grad student Lauren Caruso's Biology 271 field laboratory class.

No matter, said the optimistic Caruso. Her students still got good data, and also got a feel for the precision of research and what it's like to work with captive moose. All of this took place at the Alaska Department of Fish & Game's moose pens facility located in Palmer adjacent to the Matanuska Experiment Farm.

So how do moose food choices correspond to the well-being of our moose population? And what did the Russians learn from Monty?