Original subtitles

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-KITCHING: My goal is to follow and film a mother moose

and her newborn calf over the next year.

It's going to be really interesting to see how it grows,

how it learns from its mother,

how it avoids danger.

Moose populations are declining at an alarming rate

across North America.

And scientists are racing against the clock

to try to discover why.

Any calf born now really has the deck stacked against it.

This is gonna be a challenging 12 months,

but I'm really excited to see how this animal

survives its first year in the Canadian Rockies.

-KITCHING: I need to find a mother moose with a calf.

It's so rare to see newborn calves.

Before she gives birth, an expectant mother

heads to the most isolated and uninviting parts

of the forest.

I can't say that I blame her.

Some of North America's largest predators live here.

So mothers need to be elusive and super protective

of their young.

Finding any moose,

let alone one with a newborn, in this terrain

is a daunting challenge.

But after 21 days, I got lucky.

♪♪

I can't believe I've found her.

This calf is only a few days old.

She's pretty sweet.

I think it's a she.

That mum definitely knows I'm here,

but she seems okay with me hanging around.

That can change at any moment though,

so I'm going to have to be careful and keep my distance.

If I push it or get too close, the mother will turn on me.

I hope she's going to let me stick with them.

Moose populations are declining across North America

at an alarming rate.

One reason is that calves just aren't

surviving their first year,

so it's never been more important to learn

what happens in that first year.

The only way to know is to follow a calf every day

for the next 12 months.

No one has really done this before,

so I feel really lucky to have this chance...

and a little bit nervous, too.

They move so quietly through the woods.

They blend in so well,

even though the mother is like a thousand pounds.

The calf, it's just born,

it's already faster than me in the bush.

I mean, it's amazing.

The rest of the camera team is only here for a few days more.

They'll come and go throughout the year,

but my job is to stay here

and to really get to know these moose.

This is only gonna work

if this mother and calf decide to let me into their world.

And their world is a wilderness

that covers over 4,000 square miles --

Jasper National Park,

the largest Park in the Canadian Rockies.

-WESBROOK: Hugo's got a unique challenge,

and he's uniquely prepared for it.

He doesn't seem to require a coat.

And he is able to get up way before the sun gets up

and stays up way after it goes down.

So he puts in really long days tracking animals.

He'll sit, watching moose for hours and hours and hours,

and it's awe-inspiring.

Maligne Valley is in the center of Jasper National Park.

It's surrounded by mountains and beautiful alpine.

It's a lifeline of energy and water and wildlife.

And the habitats for moose

are focused predominantly along the bottom

where the drainages are and there's lakes

and there's meadows and damper areas for willows

and shrubbery to grow.

The moose population fluctuates

depending on the presence of predators.

When we have done counts here,

we've found 19 moose at its high, and around 10

at its lower population.

To distinguish between the moose in the valley, it's easy

because the bells on their necks are either longer or shorter,

they have scars,

or they're with different sized calves.

-KITCHING: It's pretty magical

being this close to this huge moose

and her baby calf.

I've only been with them for a couple of days now,

and what I'm noticing

is that this moose is a really good mother.

For a moose calf to survive its first year,

it needs a little bit of luck and a really good mum.

More moose calves are killed by bears

than by any other predator.

So learning to recognize a bear is a really big lesson.

This little calf has been born into a world

that's teeming with life --

from the emerald lakes, right up to the tree tops.

And everywhere I look, I see parents tending their young.

[ Bleating ]

This calf and this cow are easily identifiable.

The mother has a really distinct scar on her shoulder.

I'm really curious to know what did it.

This calf is timid and super cute,

and she seems to be learning all the time.

These young moose can put on two to four pounds a day,

every day, right up until winter.

She's around two weeks old now,

and she's just starting to learn how to eat plants.

I can really see how the mum shows her what to eat.

The mum is passing a bacteria on to the calf

through the saliva she left on those leaves.

When the calf eats the leaves,

she ingests the bacteria, which is gonna grow in her gut

and allow the calf to digest plants.

This mum is really aware,

and she doesn't let the calf get very far from her.

You know, I think that mother is really concerned

about keeping that calf safe.

There's wolves.

There's black bears, there's grizzly bears here.

All of those animals prey on baby moose.

So this looks like this was done by a grizzly bear.

You can see that there's claw marks

that are taller than me and these huge,

I mean, imagine the power to cut through this bark.

I mean, that's gotta be almost three feet.

You can see it's raked its claws into the bark.

It's a sort of a scent territory marking.

I see black bears doing similar things to trees a lot,

but the marks are nowhere near as long.

-MOORE: It's a different world for moose calves now

than it was 20 years ago.

Our moose population declined by about 64%

from 1990 to present, and we have seen that same trend

for the entire Minnesota moose herd as well.

I think it might be more open down that way.

Of more concern is the fact

that it looks like moose populations across North America

are doing the same thing.

So the only way to have a population to increase

is to have more young calves

survive than adults die in a year,

and we're not seeing that.

She was just here.

So if we can find her tracks

and just see if there is another calf track with her...

What do you got for a signal?

-MAN: She's still in this swath ahead of us.

-MOORE: Every day doing this moose research is a surprise.

We've been surprised at the high predation rates

that we've seen on the calves.

We've been surprised at the poor health of the cows.

It's fascinating research,

but it's also very concerning in terms of the moose population

as a whole.

The calves can get up and walk within 24 hours,

and within 48 hours,

we're almost too late to be able to catch them.

E.J., I see him -- over there.

I tracked her, E.J.

The collar is 15571.

-E.J.: You got hair? -MOORE: We got hair.

-WOMAN: We got hair, sex, blood -- just a weight.

-MOORE: A weight and then we are out of here.

45.4.

Okay, good.

I'm just going to grab the muzzle,

and then I am going to start walking out this way.

Okay.

Okay, let's go.

Then we'll just get on out of here.

This is the most stressful time for us as biologists --

just after we collar a calf,

making sure that the cow comes back to the calf,

and they are able to reconnect.

We've done this enough times that for all of our captures,

the cows have always come back.

But every time you do this,

there's a risk that you scare the cow too much to come back,

and they end up, ultimately, abandoning the calf.

It's pretty tough to be a moose calf,

and the chances of survival of an individual moose calf

are quite low.

Calves are dying at alarmingly high levels,

and I think that's why we're seeing

such a strong population decline.

It will have made it through the most critical time of its life

if it makes it one year.

[ Thunder rolling ]

[ Thunder crashes loudly ]

You know, part of the challenge of being out here every day

is dealing with the different weather.

And I am really cold right now.

But I gotta keep going.

I gotta keep the gear dry

and stay with them,

'cause, you know, they're out here every day,

and they don't mind this cold weather.

Lately, they seem a lot more relaxed with me being here,

and I think they are slowly getting used to me,

which is -- which is great.

She's been waiting a long time to feed on these water plants.

It takes months for these mountain lakes

to warm up enough to provide the mineral-rich plants

she craves, but can't get on land.

Some of these water plants

have 500 times more sodium than land plants,

and a moose needs sodium for every part of their development,

from growing hair to reproducing.

And they'll go to great lengths to get it.

They'll dive up to 18 feet to get their teeth

on this stuff.

There is so much our calf needs to learn to be a moose.

And the only one who can teach her is her mum.

This is a tricky lesson.

She's got to learn it's safe to go in the water

and to swim for the first time.

And then, because all the really good plants are at the bottom,

she's gotta learn how to dive.

This could take her weeks, even a month, to learn.

Not the most graceful thing I've seen.

But moose are such strong swimmers,

she'll get it soon enough.

These guys really need to feast on this sodium-rich pondweed

while they can.

Moose can store minerals in their body so efficiently

that they only need to load up on essential elements

like sodium once or twice a year.

These aquatic plants will die out in about a month.

Not all the lakes here produce them,

so this one is a magnet for all the moose in the area.

Moose normally keep to their own territory,

and up until now, our cow

and calf have had this lake to themselves.

But now they've got company.

Oh, man, their ears are back.

That means our mother moose

and this new cow want nothing to do with each other.

Oh, my gosh!

Is that another calf?

It looks so tiny compared to our calf!

He can't be more than three or four weeks old.

This little guy is gonna

have to do a lot of growing up before winter comes.

I wonder how the little calf's life is going to be

different from the big calf's.

It's late August, and this is only the second calf

I've seen in the entire park.

This is so cool!

There really are personality differences between the calves.

The little calf is kind of -- he's a little cheeky.

He's more curious, and he's more bold.

And he'll wander off a lot.

I really want to try to follow this little calf

and our original big calf.

I love the chestnut color on the mum -- she's gorgeous.

They're both so relaxed around me.

This is going to be great.

Now that it's fall, I have to be really careful.

The bull moose who have been up in the mountains

for the past couple of months

are coming down for the mating season.

[ Moose calling ]

This is the only time of year the bull moose gather together.

They are spending a lot of time sizing each other up.

I don't blame them -- these guys can weigh 1,200 pounds

and reach over seven feet at the shoulder.

They are very powerful animals,

and at this time of year, they're unpredictable.

[ Moose bellowing ]

This little calf is fearless.

This is risky.

That bull could kill him.

If he tried to mount the little calf,

he'd break his back.

And one angry swipe with those antlers would do serious damage.

In the end,

it's the cow who decides who her mate will be.

Having been here for so long, doing this day after day,

I spend more time with these guys than anyone else.

It's going to be tougher to keep up with them

when winter comes, though.

I hear snow can get as deep as five feet here.

I'll have to deal with extra clothes, snow shoes,

and then there's all the food I'm gonna have to carry.

The amount of energy you need snow shoeing,

with all the gear --

I mean, I am just eating bacon like candy out here --

anything with calories.

And the moose have it worse.

Now that winter's hit,

there's very little for them to eat.

These guys are going to find every last bit

of green forage they can.

But soon all this nutrient-rich stuff will be gone,

and they'll be left with a diet of prickly evergreens,

even twigs --

whatever they can get their teeth on.

Even after eating for hours and hours on end, they're gonna

lose weight every day for the next five months.

This is gonna be tough for our big calf...

but it's going to be even tougher for our little calf.

He's had so little time to build up any fat reservesr.

-MOORE: Moose are under a firing line

of things that are affecting their population,

and I think, ultimately, all of these different things

that are affecting the moose population

are driven by climate change.

If you look at the individual mechanisms

that are impacting moose, it's very complex.

We have brainworm that are being transferred by deer.

We have high predator numbers

because of the high deer populations.

We have winter ticks

that are impacted by snow depth in the spring.

And so we think that those things

are all playing into causing moose population decline.

What we have found in the last year is that five

out of our six moose mortalities

that occurred on our collared animals

were health-related issues, not predation related issues.

The moose cows that we've been collaring,

when they give birth, are in much worse health

than they should be.

And we think that that may contribute to them

being less effective in terms of protecting their calves

from predation.

-MAN: Yeah, she's a big old girl.

-MOORE: Mm-hmm. Well, I hope that tick issue

isn't too bad for her.

I'm very concerned that winter ticks are impacting moose.

When tick populations are high,

there can be very high tick loads on an individual animal,

and that can cause hypothermia because they rub their hair off.

And in addition to that, it can cause the moose

to become anemic from blood loss.

Put it in there? -MAN: I did, I put it in.

-MOORE: Cool, thanks.

Ticks aren't the only tiny animal

that can bring down a moose.

There are a lot of different things

that could be affecting this animal,

but the leading thing that I would think of

is probably brainworm.

Brainworm is a parasite that's carried by white-tailed deer.

It doesn't really affect the deer at all.

But when it's in a moose,

it looks for the same geography that it finds in a deer.

In looking for that geography,

it tunnels through the brain of a moose,

and it causes a lot of neurological damage.

Essentially, the moose becomes a walking zombie.

It's a horrible way for an animal to die.

♪♪

Given the fact

that populations are declining across the entire continent,

I think this is a very important time for studying moose.

The moose population in Minnesota,

if it continues at this current trajectory,

will be gone in 50 years.

-KITCHING: With all the snow on the ground,

it's actually really hard

to find our moose in this massive park.

Each mother and calf

roam a territory of about two square miles.

At their closest, they're about six miles apart,

so I have a lot of ground to cover to keep track of them.

You would think following their tracks in the snow

would be really easy...

but it is really hard.

You find a fresh track,

and you just start following it.

You would not believe how often they criss-cross each other.

So when you think you're getting close,

you actually find out that you are still

hours behind the moose.

And the other big thing is the snowshoes make so much noise.

And with all your gear --

you know, I have 50, 60 pounds of stuff with me,

A big tripod over my shoulder --

I mean, they hear me coming from a mile away.

The funny thing is if you

are walking through the bush following their tracks,

and you can actually make eye contact with them,

I find if I talk to them gently

and sort of let them know it's me --

it's not a wolf --

they immediately relax.

In this winter landscape, all a mother can do

is to show her calf how to find everything possible to eat.

Our little calf is catching on pretty quick.

Hey, little guy.

Wow!

So these moose...

are really attracted to the salt on my car.

The road salt contains potassium, calcium,

even magnesium.

That's why the mothers love it so much.

It's like my car's a Popsicle.

The snow is so deep, despite their long legs,

you know, the snow is still draining their energy,

so it really seems like every step they take in this snow

is calculated to expend the least bit of energy

that they can.

Everything that they do is really planned.

Like, look at that.

The cow is just planted.

She is straining her neck, stretching her neck,

eating everything in sight.

And then when she has cleaned up everything she can reach,

takes a step.

Another step.

And there we go again.

It is just amazing that they find enough food to eat here.

They really are twig-eaters.

It's incredible to think that they can eat 8,000

to 9,000 twigs a day.

For our little calf who was born so late in the season,

this is gonna be a real struggle.

He is such a fighter, though.

No matter how tough it is for him,

he just never gives up.

I bet they're dreaming of spring and all the green veg

that's going to come out.

I haven't seen our little calf and his mum for two days now.

I decided to leave them alone because they are so high

up the mountain.

I don't know what's driving them up,

but I've stayed away in case it was me.

I can't go too long without checking on them, though.

So today is gonna be a climbing day.

Oh, my gosh!

Look at those tracks.

That's crazy.

Wow.

I think I'm on the trails of wolves,

judging by the tracks.

And they are going exactly the same way I am going.

I'm about 500 meters from the last known location

of the calf.

Okay...

Looks like there might be at least two here.

I'm kind of nervous.

Just because of our little calf in this snow, I mean...

I don't know, I think a wolf would --

or a pack of wolves would have no problem.

I mean the mum is -- if the mum protected it,

that would be its only hope.

But -- wow -- there's a lot of wolf tracks.

[ Birds calling ]

I'm hearing ravens over there.

It could mean it's a kill.

We are really close to where our cow and calf were.

Now that being said,

they were still 500 meters away last time I saw them,

which isn't that far, except it was vertical --

or almost vertical up the hill.

Oh, man!

I just gotta wonder if this is our calf.

Okay, I'm going to keep searching.

Oh, no.

Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

That is moose hair.

Ooh, this isn't good.

This isn't good at all.

Man.

Well, I think the only thing to do is to keep

following these wolf tracks to see what happens.

Phew... Oh!

This is a brutal climb.

Ah, here!

Her tracks are right here.

That's definitely the mother,

and I just saw a calf track back there.

Come on, guys. Please have gone up hill.

Oh, man.

Look at all these broken branches.

There has been an epic chase or battle here.

Broken branches everywhere.

Hair -- clumps of hair -- tracks.

The wolf tracks converge here.

Oh, my God. Look at that.

Oh, no.

Oh.

Oh, our poor calf.

This is just unbelievable.

You can't help but get attached to these animals.

I've spent so many hours -- hundreds and hundreds

and hundreds of hours with this moose,

and now to just know it just died this way.

And it was so close to making it through the winter.

I mean, a few more weeks now

and it could of been in the clear.

And I just hope our cow is doing okay.

Looks like she ran off that way.

Despite the hard winter,

I'm glad to say our first calf has survived.

She's a yearling now, and she's big.

She was only about 40 pounds when I met her,

and now she must weigh well over 400 pounds.

Considering that only around 30% of moose calves

survive their first year,

it's a real triumph for our big calf

that she's made it to spring.

She's past the tough stuff now.

Food is no longer scarce,

and she's had the protection

and guidance of her mother for a whole year.

But things are about to change.

Her mum is pregnant.

But before she gives birth,

she will turn on our calf and drive her out.

She'll chase off her yearling

in order to ensure the best possible chance

for her newborn.

She'll keep shunning and shunning her

until the message is clear,

"You are not welcome here anymore."

I guess it's tough love.

The mother's focus has turned to nurturing the next generation.

Now, our yearling has to head out into the world

and make it on her own.

Despite everything her mother has taught her,

she still has so much left to learn.

I heard that a chestnut-colored moose was seen on a small island

five miles up Maligne Lake.

It's got to be our little calf's mum.

I'd never seen another moose that color in the park.

Hi, little guy.

She has survived so much.

She must be completely exhausted.

And, yet, here she is again,

using all her strength to mother another little calf.

And at a time when moose populations are in such decline,

each calf is precious.

Our feisty little calf showed me just how hard

life can be for a moose born late in the season.

This new calf was born two months before his brother

was last year, which gives him a huge advantage

for surviving that critical first year.

I've been so lucky to experience firsthand the strong bond

that develops between a calf and its mother.

She is such a remarkable animal.

I feel better about leaving here --

now that I know she's had a chance to be a mother again.

To learn more about what you've seen on this "Nature" program,

visit pbs.org.