Maine Moose

When it comes to a shape bizarre, moose proudly hold their own along with the camel, kangaroo, and platypus. I’ve never seen one in the wild, only in glossy magazines or nature documentaries. And it’s just as well, for I haven’t the stamina to tramp Maine woods to catch a peek at one nibbling plants in water belly-deep. The bull, in particular, is huge and its size contributes even more to its uncomely appearance, a bungled heap of incongruous body parts of other animals: mule-like ears, a camel-like muzzle, a stubby neck and a fury clump of skin dangling under its throat, with a small abortive hump just behind the nape, and scrunched up shoulders – a blind rush into a boulder during a night rut? – with a rear sheared off abruptly; and, finally, a growth of massive antlers (called a rack) that can extend over six feet from tip to tip. All in all, it is two tons of flesh on the hoof, moving on four spindly legs, the front longer than the two behind. Yet those who have seen it in the wild prancing across a field say it has all the grace of a ballerina "en pointe"*– provided you ignore its true ugliness with an imagination powerful enough to be deceived. *On her toes.