The time-energy budget of a moose

As the first step in developing an optimal foraging model for moose (Belovsky 1978), a time-energy budget for a moose was developed. For the summer period (late May through early September) at Isle Royale National Park, Michigan, we made various behavioral observations on feeding moose and inventoried their food resources. Employing these various sets of data, we were able to determine the quantity of each food consumed by moose, the time required to acquire the foods, preferences for different food plants, and differences demonstrated by the sexes. In addition to this information, we collected data on the moose's ability to utilize each of the forage plants and the population densities of moose in different years (1972–1974) in two forest types. This enabled us to examine energy flow within each of the populations and determine in what manner energy limits the moose population.