Two Giant Bull Moose Spotted Headbutting On Road

A family out hunting in Canada encountered a rare sight—two bull moose headbutting right in front of them on the road.

In the video shared by the family, the two large moose are oblivious to the people and the approaching truck. They are too busy locking antlers and fighting.

The video was filmed in September, during the rutting (mating) season for moose, which lasts from late August to mid-October. During this period, moose display behaviors not seen at other times of the year. The truck driver and the family wisely kept their distance, as male moose during the rutting season are more aggressive and dangerous than usual.

National Park Service has been studying moose rutting season for years and wrote on their website that bull moose are “well-equipped to fight.”

“At up to 1,600 pounds they are enormously powerful. Their shoulders are huge, and during the rut, their neck muscles expand to twice their normal size,” NPS explained. “The skin on their foreheads is thick providing armor against punctures by opponents. In addition, they possess weapons and shields in the form of antlers—large, strong organs specifically designed for fighting. Antlers have sharp points attached to broad palms that can severely wound opponents, puncturing the body, injuring eyes, or bruising muscles.”

The majority of fights occur between two mature bulls of approximately equal size just as seen in this video. NPS describes that before clashing antlers, “fighting bulls engage in intense displays, including pawing the ground, thrashing their antlers against shrubs, and displaying their bodies and antlers.”

That is just a precursor to the violent clashes where “each bull attempts to twist the opponent’s head, shove him backwards, cause him to fall, and gore him.” In fights the bulls “seek tactical advantages, including gaining the uphill position to maximize battering effects.”

Gaining higher ground is exactly what one moose on the right of the screen in the video manages to do, pushing his opponent down into the brush. The video ends there, so viewers won’t know the outcome. However, NPS notes that bulls take their fights “very seriously” and that losers either leave the territory on their own or are escorted out by their rivals.