An extremely rare white moose has been caught on video in Eda, Sweden. The video was recorded by Hans Nilsson, a local Municipal council member, who has spent the past three years trying to capture footage of the animal, which makes its home in Western Sweden. The moose, called elk in Eurasia, can be seen in the video below taking a refreshing dip in a stream and then having a bite to eat.
“This white elk bull is local to the area.” Nilsson told The Local, a Swedish news site. “I saw it the evening before too, that was the first time. On Friday evening when I shot the video everything fell into place, the location, the light and the calmness. It was an experience to meet such a stately animal up close.”
The moose in question is not an albino, but has a genetic mutation causing its fur, including the the velvety fur on its antlers, to be white. Of the estimated 400,000 moose in Sweden only around 100 are thought to be white.
According to Göran Ericsson, a professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, their numbers may be on the rise. “Hunters have chosen to not kill any moose that are light,” he told National Geographic, “It is kind of like dog breeding, they choose to select for traits that otherwise wouldn’t have occurred.” and since the moose in Sweden have no other predators, this might be leading to a slow increase in the population of white moose.
People were, naturally, impressed with the beast appearance.
White Elk (Sweden), Moose (North America), awesome either way! https://t.co/pDMI5SPII9 #vikings #rpg #Ragnarok #tabletop #DnD #dnd5e pic.twitter.com/BEwMKCtjhP
— Clint Staples (@theClintStaples) August 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/BiologistDan/status/896865451795390466
According to Celtic myth, the white stag’s appearance denotes that a taboo act will soon be committed, while Arthurian legend holds they are a symbol that the time is ripe to pursue a quest. So if you’ve been considering driving across the country to confess your love to your wife’s sister, now might be the time.
