More Water Moose sightings

Heuvelmans-sea-serpent-motley-Oct-2009

Know_your_Sea_Serpents_by_Pristichampsus

In both of the Sea Serpent charts above the "Merhorse" is the one at the lowest right hand corner.
Below is the "Merhorse" of the second chart by Tim Morris (Pristichampsus) and I have modified it slightly to match the other Merhorse in the other chart more (I could have made the head even larger and morse horselike, but I settled on a compromise: likewise I cut the tail in half as a compromise between not tail at all and the length of tail as illustrated) and I darkened the beard for emphasis because it is important (It represents the bell of the moose). In the chart below I think it makes a fair comparison with a moose, including even the legs and feet (the toes are clawed in the Pristichampsus drawing but it is hard to see how many: however it is easy enough to read the feet as cloven hooves.

The lowest end sizes for "Water Horses" seen at Loch Ness are actually about six feet long and six feet high in the body, which is a really good approximation for a not especially large moose. We are also assuming a predominance in sightings of cow moose without antlers. Peter Costello gives the sizes for a "Water Horse" (in his interpretation, the creature behind most freshwater sightings worldwide, or at least all over the Northern Hemisphere)  as about 18 feet long for the female, 30 feet long for the male (In Search of Lake Monsters page 288), which does make it just barely up to the lower end of Heuvelmans' Merhorse category: he is using Mackal's (LNIB) figures and applying the averages to all similar such creatures at Lake Okanogan, Lake Champlain, Lake Storsjon and all the rest. He assumes that all of the larger reported creatures have had their lengths doubled and he automatically cuts all larger estimates of length in half (as does Mackal). Cutting the 18-30 feet estimates in half yields  9 to 15 feet long, which is really good estimate for moose size. The  other extremes of long length at 50 to 100 feet (even sometimes 150 feet long or more) are also consistent with the reported lengths of wakes in this category, and the Merhorse sightings in general as given by Heuvelmans (In the Wake of the Sea Serpents p. 553).

 UNDERWATER MOOSE

There is currently a move to consider moose that habitually swim for long distances underwater as another population or a distinctly different sort of creature with different adaptations. Officially moose are held to be able to swim across wide lakes in the Canadian Wilderness, and even cross narrow straits and fjords along the coastline, the same as they do in Scandinavia. They are said to be able to dive down to twenty feet and stay submerged for a minute at a time: moose can also swim for a pretty good distance completely submerged and a swimming moose is supposed to be able to travel along at ten miles an hour (estimated). While I was assembling this article, I just so happened to cross postings with Chad Arment and he says he is even working on a book that will focus on the theme of underwater moose as Cryptids, and they evidently even feature as "Unexpected encounters" in a popular video game. However to counter this view, this seems to be a matter of some moose being more adept at swimming and diving than others, rather than any kind of a new species to be involved. My definition of Cryptid includes the provision that it must be a potentially completely new species to qualify, and not to be classifiable as any currently known species. Most moose have features which work against them exploiting underwater habits: they have not got flippers or webbed feet, they have widely-spreading hoofs, which are much less efficient as swimming fins. They are also very buoyant, and if they have taken a deep breath to stay down longer, they are even more buoyant. And videos that show moose spending a long time underwater show them as tending to bob back up to the surface eventually.
It is only sufficient for my purpose that some moose are unusually good swimmers, they like doing it, and some individual moose are trained and/or adapted to be especially good at swimming and diving.

 Photos of a cow and a bull moose grazing at a depth of about 15 feet underwater.





Underwater Moose video. These are becoming more and more common and more and more popular lately.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MYSTERY MOOSE
http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/ja06/indepth/default.asp

It is instructive to note that the Canadian Geographic (Canadian version of the National Geographic)
 includes a section on Cryptozoology and lake monsters under the heading of "Moose Facts"
and in fact some of the cited sources do speak of swimming moose as being the significant sources for some of the sightings at many of these lakes
http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/ja06/indepth/justthefacts.asp

JUST THE FACTS 

Moose Facts

 •  Moose have a life span of 15 to 25 years.
•  The average moose weighs between 550 to 700 kilograms.
•  Moose are the largest member of the deer family.
•  The flap of skin that hangs beneath a moose's throat is called a bell.
•  Only males have a rack of antlers. They are flattened and range from 120 to 150 centimetres across and weigh 20 kilograms. Their antlers may have as many as 30 tines (or spikes).
•  Each year, antlers are shed in November or December and another, slightly larger set begin to grow the next midsummer.
•  Moose live in every Canadian province.
•  Moose are very good swimmers and can easily swim 16 kilometres.[per hour]
•  Moose can run faster than 50 kilometres per hour.
•  Having poor eyesight, moose rely on their keen sense of smell.
•  A male moose is called a bull and a female moose is called a cow.
•  The word moose comes from the Algonquin word mooswa, which means "twig-eater."
•  Moose eat willow, birch and aspen twigs, horsetail, sedges, roots, pond weeds and grasses, leaves, twigs, buds and the bark of some woody plants, as well as lichens, aquatic plants and some of the taller herbaceous land plants.
•  Moose can feed under water.
•  Moose can dive more than five metres for food on a lake bottom.
•  It is estimated that there are between 500,000 and 1 million moose in Canada.
•  Unknown species of animals are referred to as cryptids.
•  The term cryptozoology was coined by Dr. Bernard Heuvelmans to scientifically describe his investigation of unknown species. It is not a recognized branch of zoology.
•  Cryptozoology is commonly grouped with paranormal research.
•  Many crytozoological phenomena are based on aboriginal legends.
•  Cryptids range from Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster to ivory-billed woodpeckers to more bizarre creatures, such as atmospheric beasts and werewolves.
•  The first recorded sighting of a Sasquatch was in 1811 near what is now the town of Jasper, Alta. A trader named David Thompson found some strange footprints, 36 centimetres long and 20 centimetres wide, with four toes, in the snow.
•  Bigfoot is said to stand 1.4 metres in height and weigh 58 kilograms and have long black, coarse hair covering its entire body.
•  Across western Canada, at least 19 water monsters have reputedly been spotted in three of the four provinces. Alberta has no reported cases.[Untrue]
•  Canada’s most famous water monster is Ogopogo of Lake Okanagan in the south central interior of British Columbia.
•  The first recorded sighting of Ogopogo by a Caucasian was by Mrs. John Allison in 1872.
•  The monster called Sicopogo lives in B.C.’s Shuswap Lake, not far from Kamloops.
•  Lake Memphrémagog — an international lake 113 kilometres east of Montréal located on the Canada-U.S. border — is said to be inhabited by a sea serpent.