>>3696362 lb
What's a Ghost Moose? How Ticks Are Killing an Iconic Animal
As New England winters get warmer and shorter, ticks are driving a worrisome decline in a species that's crucial to the region's economy.
BY CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
PUBLISHED JUNE 1, 2015
EAST MOXIE TOWNSHIP, Maine—Lee Kantar crouches over a dead moose calf and pulls a clump of hair from its straggly shoulder.
A few days earlier, the sickly ten-month-old animal had waded through deep snow to this sun-dappled stand of spruce trees in western Maine, laid down, and died.
"See how white those hairs are?" says Kantar, a moose biologist for the state.
It's a telltale sign that the calf was becoming a "ghost moose"—an animal so irritated by ticks that it rubs off most of its dark brown hair, exposing its pale undercoat and bare skin.
With their skinny necks, emaciated bodies, and big, hairless splotches, these moose look like the walking dead as they stumble through the forest.
And in recent years in New England, ghost moose sightings have become increasingly familiar.
The reason is likely climate change, biologists say, which is ushering in shorter, warmer winters that are boosting the fortunes of winter ticks. The tiny creatures latch on to moose here in staggering numbers: One moose can house 75,000 ticks, which are helping to drive a troubling rise in moose deaths, especially among calves.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/150601-ghost-moose-animals-science-new-england-environment/