CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Science & Nature

Eastern moose

subspecies of mammal

Specimen drawers, botanical folios and brass scientific instruments under study light
Science and natureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 13, 2026
Entity authorityQ5330599
Source-derived summary

The eastern moose (Alces alces americana) is a subspecies of moose that currently ranges throughout Eastern Canada, New England and northern New York State. It inhabits boreal forests and mixed deciduous forests. It is the third largest North American subspecies, after the western moose and the Alaskan moose. Males are aggressive during mating season and will attack anything that provokes them.

Distribution

The eastern moose's range spans a broad swath of northeastern North America, which includes New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador (while it is native to Labrador, it was introduced to Gander Bay, Newfoundland in 1878 and to Howley, NL in 1904), Nova Scotia, Quebec, Eastern Ontario, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and northern New York.

The moose that roam in Cape Breton Highlands National Park are descended from the western moose that originated from Alberta's Elk Island National Park.

The population and range of the eastern moose increased in the decades leading up to the early 2000s as reforestation increased habitat area, but in more recent years diseases and parasites, including winter tick and brainworm, have cut into the population.

There are about 350,000 eastern moose, with about 3⁄4 of them mating every autumn and winter.

Habitat

Eastern moose live in thick boreal, hemiboreal or mixed deciduous forests near large amounts of food. In the summer, they move to have access to wetlands and aquatic vegetation, and prefer temperatures under 15 °C (59 °F).

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Eastern moose” is subspecies of mammal. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Eastern, moose and subspecies, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical orientation to terminology and classification, particularly when read beside dated observations, specimens or technical literature. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1878, 1904—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Eastern, moose and subspecies is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “subspecies of mammal” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5330599. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1878 and 1904.

Critical limits

Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

Best used for
  • Current terminology
  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
Verify next

Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Eastern moose”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Eastern moose primary sources, Eastern moose archive and Eastern research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Eastern moose”?
  2. Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
  3. Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Eastern moose” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.