I guess Texans aren't the only ones who know how to tell a tall tale...or use PhotoShop!We all know the look of a dead armadillo on the side of the road in the Hill Country. That sad prehistoric looking thing on it's back with its legs sticking up and no longer moving. It's the staple in Texas...I don't even think twice when I see them anymore. Now deer on the other hand are a different hazard all together since they can total your car. I remember driving down to Fredericksburg one summer to see my grandparents and we had a few close calls with deer down there. But at least at night you can see a deer's eyes reflecting your headlights.
Not so with moose. I haven't come across any since I haven't travelled too far off the beaten road in Maine. Their eyes don't reflect the light so I guess YOU might be the one with the "deer in the headlights" look when one is passing in front of your car. One morning I was listening to the radio and the newsman reported that over the weekend a moose had been hit on the interstate. It sounded pretty brutal. I'll attempt a reenactment: "Over the weekend, an adult moose was hit on the southbound side of I-95 several times before it attempted to get away. It was passing over to the northbound side where it was hit several times again. Needless to say, there wasn't much left of the moose." Really? Did he have to include that last sentence? Now I have moose guts and parts in my imagination that I didn't want. And how kind of me to pass that along to you, huh?
If you've never seen a live moose like me, you've heard that they're big and dumb and that's about it. Well to give you an idea, an adult bull will stand about 6-7 feet high at the SHOULDER. We still have those head and antlers to think about. And they can weigh up to 1500 pounds. And apparently they're dumb enough to charge cars during mating season if they think your little Honda is a threat to the female they have their eyes on. Over the 4th of July weekend a moose calf was spotted across the road from my house near the Arby's. I guess they have cravings for roast beef, Jamocha shakes, and curly fries too.
Thank God for those reflective retinas in deer, huh?! There was that one Thanksgiving weekend I was driving you and Spike from Fredericksburg back to Denton sometime after dark, and I just barely cleared that deer in the middle of the road. The eyes gave her away... that and the oncoming traffic whose lights strangely disappeared then reappeared in the animal's profile.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is maybe the moose's eyes don't really reflect because they're not at eye level with you on the road like deer are. Just a theory. I don't want to "see" what that's like, though.