I found this story of a moose roaring, but can't find a recording of one making that kind of sound, can't find a recording, other than the normal moose sounds. Any one know anything more about moose making a roaring sound?


http://web.mac.com/gobearviewing/iWe...%20Roared.html





I began studying moose vocalizations in the spring of 1970, as a new grad student from University of Alaska, Fairbanks. I recorded each sound made by moose from the bleats and sucking-sounds of newborn calves to the grunts of their mothers and the gulps of rutting bulls, as well as growls and roars.

The first time I heard a moose growl, it accompanied the sound of a large animal bursting through dense brush toward me. Thinking that a bear was charging, I flew up the nearest spruce. Well, “flew” isn’t quite the right word, judging from the abundance of spruce needles that had punctured my hide on the way up. But my adrenaline was spurting like a firehose, and I felt like I could have just about jumped up there.

From my perch, I could see that the angry animal was a cow moose who had just whelped. Her calf was still wet with birth fluids and needed to be licked dry before it became hypothermic. Having detected me nearby, mamma moose had warned me away. I hadn’t known that moose could growl much like a wolf.

Later that summer, I happened to be on a road chosen by a bull moose to escape from a pursuing bear. Suddenly finding itself sandwiched between the bear and me, the moose let out a roar that could have shamed an African lion.

At that time, this vocal similarity between moose, wolves and lions amazed me. But, looking back, it now seems obvious that animals have to communicate across species, as well as within them. If a moose is to use sounds to intimidate enemies, whether other moose or predators, then these sounds must make sense to all concerned. Mating calls, by contrast, should be meaningful only to other moose.

Although I observed a few growls and roars during summer, it was not until winter that I heard them frequently. When food is scarce, competition becomes fierce, and rivals are driven away with pile-driver hooves, lowered head and ears, and intimidating sounds.

I had plenty of opportunity to see that after exceptionally deep snows drove the moose into the driveway of a friend. The animals quickly homed in on the odor of the feed she supplied to her rabbits. Most of the moose were quite gentle with my friend, never threatening harm. But life is full of exceptions, and there was one very nasty cow, whom we called Satana, who dominated that rather loose-knit “herd.” Satana drove off all the other moose when she came and tried to break into the rabbit hutch to reach the feed; she also charged any person nearby.

One day, as I was carrying feed for the rabbits, Satana showed up. As soon as I saw her approaching with head low, ears laid back, and salivating heavily, I knew I was in trouble. I dropped the feed and leapt into the hutch. She nearly caught me before I could get there. Later, when I opened the door to look out, she charged again. At little more than a body length away, she reared back into a low crouch and lashed forward with both front hooves. Simultaneously, her ears went from back to upside down, pointing toward the snow, and she roared so loudly that my mind went almost blank with terror.

Almost, blank; but not quite. In moments like that, memories are etched into the brain like photographs. The image which haunts me to this day is the powerful bellowing of her nostrils. I eventually filmed roars on several occasions and examined them frame by frame. I still can’t be sure that part of the roar is not produced in the throat and mouth. But most of the air expelled in a roar appears to come through the nostrils. I could see the soft flesh of the muzzle bulge outwards and the nostrils quiver with the force of the roar.

Examining the skull of a moose, you can easily see its huge nasal passages. Where better to produce the vibrations necessary for such a loud and forceful “vocalization”? Those of us who saw the movie Jurassic Park will recall when the hero and his two kids ended up in a very tall tree, face to face with a dinosaur that looked something like a so-called brontosaurus. This was one of the species thought to trumpet through its nasal chambers -- a tactic which has been exploited by a wide variety of animals for making various loud sounds. Yet, so far as I know, moose are the only species that roars this way.

Winter is a wonderful time to enjoy seeing moose. But feeding them can be as dangerous as feeding grizzlies. Even if they don’t harm you, they might eventually harm someone else. All too often, a fed animal eventually becomes a dead animal.