Colorado Parks and Wildlife recently took to Twitter to share an interesting fact about the moose species. According to the department, a moose can eat up to 16,000 calories per day over the course of about 11.3 hours. That's eight times the recommended 2,000-ish calories for an adult human.
If a moose were to be snacking on human food, here's how much it would be eating:
– 28 Big Macs, 2.5 per hour (563 calories a piece)
– 53 slices of cheese pizza from Pizza Hut, 6.6 full pizzas, 4.7 slices per hour (300 calories per slice)
– 94 crunchy tacos from Taco Bell, 8.3 tacos per hour (170 calories a piece)
– 168 apples, 15 apples per hour (95 calories per apple)
– 1,777 gummy bears, 157 bears per hour (9 calories per bear)
– 15 pints of Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra Core ice cream, 1.3 pints per hour (1,080 calories per pint)
– 84 glazed donuts from Krispy Kreme, 7.5 per hour (190 calories per donut)
– 106 hot dogs, 9.4 hot dogs per minute (151 calories per hot dog). And to answer your question, Joey Chestnut set a world record eating 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
– 36 Caesar salads with chicken from Panera, 3.2 per hour (440 calories per salad)
– 10.5 'Tour of Italy' pasta samplers from Olive Garden, 0.9 per hour (1,520 calories per entree)
It's also important to keep in mind that moose are herbivores, meaning they only eat plants. That means all of those calories are coming from a diet that consists mostly of leaves, twigs, and aquatic plant life.
Capable of reaching more than 1,000 pounds in size, it's no surprise that moose eat a lot. It can still be a bit shocking to see it put in terms of human food.
Because moose spend so much time eating, this may mean leaving young behind while foraging. If a young moose that seems abandoned is spotted, it's likely that the calf was simply left by the mother temporarily. Do not approach or attempt to capture the animal, as this can be extremely dangerous to all parties involved. If a reason for concern exists, contact wildlife officials.
STAY INFORMED: Sign-up for the daily OutThere Colorado newsletter here
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.