Scientists have claimed that because of their burping and farting, the placid moose is an eco killer. During a single year, according to new research, a full-grown moose expels – from both ends – the methane equivalent of 2,100kg of carbon dioxide emissions. That is said to be as destructive for the atmosphere as the emissions released by 13,000km (8,000 miles) of car travel. “To put it into perspective, the return flight from Oslo to Santiago in Chile leaves a carbon footprint of 880 kilos,” said the biologist Reidar Andersen, a biologist. “Shoot a moose and you have saved the equivalent of two long-haul flights.”
Already, though, climate change is alleged to have so altered their eating habits that they are involved in an en-vironmentally vicious circle of increasing gas emissions. It began when snows started to recede in Norway. “Moose normally eat branches in the winter, a not particularly nutritious diet,” said Erling Solberg, of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. “But since snow has become so much rarer they have access to wild blueberries.”
The result has been fatter moose that are more likely to break wind. Moreover, better-fed, the moose have started to reproduce more quickly and herds are swelling.
Source: Times Online
Image: Tipkodi / Flickr
Tags: Moose | Break Wind | Global Warming | Nature
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