What is the significance of the moose in Canada?

The moose is the largest member of the deer family and stands as an unofficial Canadian symbol of the boreal forest, hunting tradition, and northern wilderness. Adult bull moose can weigh more than 700 kilograms and stand more than two metres high at the shoulder, with palmate antlers up to 1.8 metres across. Canada is home to between 500,000 and one million moose, the largest population of any country.

Moose appear on provincial coats of arms, on the licence plates of Newfoundland and Labrador (where they are the official provincial animal), on military badges, and on the federal $100,000 commemorative gold coin issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007. The species is the official animal of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Canadian Forces' 4 Canadian Ranger Patrol Group operating in the territories.

Indigenous nations across the boreal forest, including the Cree, Innu, Anishinaabe, and Dene, have hunted moose for thousands of years and continue to do so under treaty rights and Aboriginal title. Moose hide tanning, moose meat smoking, and moose bone tool-making are taught at cultural camps from Quebec through to the Yukon. The Algonquin word 'moose' itself, meaning 'twig eater', entered English from the languages of eastern Canada in the seventeenth century.

Moose feature in Canadian popular culture as well, from the cartoon Bullwinkle to the mascots of the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Canadian Tire 'Tested for Life in Canada' campaign. Highway signs across the country warn drivers of moose crossings, and collisions with the species are a leading cause of large-animal road deaths in northern Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces.