A rare piebald moose photographed by a Norwegian wildlife photographer is capturing people’s imaginations for its unique appearance. The piebald moose foraging in Buskerud, Norway when Thomas Mørch managed to capture images of the spotted shy animal.
Mørch got a sighting tip from a friend who had seen the rare moose in the wilderness.
“I have a friend who runs horses up there and the moose had been in his summer pasture for several days. I traveled there immediately, because suddenly he could be gone,” Mørch told NRK [trans.], a Norwegian news media station.
The brown spotted the moose was eating vegetation in the deep snow when Mørch found him. The moose has piebaldism, a condition caused by the absence of mature melanin-forming cells (melanocytes) in certain areas of the skin and hair.
Mørch said the moose looked healthy and was “good and fat.” Another resident in the area also spotted the moose while heading to work.
Jan Eira told Hallingdølen, “It doesn’t look like a moose. He is almost as fat as a pig, with a belly like a cow.”
After several days of taking photos, Mørch came back to the location with his children, only to find that the moose had vanished.
“The ‘troll’ has become quite a celebrity, and I think he did a good job of hiding. The kids and I went to look for him today, but he was gone,” he wrote [trans.] on his Facebook page Mørch Foto & Villmarksopplevelser. “He has eaten well and looks like he will survive the winter. We also have to keep our fingers crossed that it stays away from motorways and railways.”
Mørch regularly shares stunning wildlife images on Instagram and says that he has “a passion for Norwegian wildlife.”
He often employs Eagle and Black Grouse hides to get his close-up photos.
The piebald moose is definitely one of Mørch’s rarer wildlife encounters.
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