I'm Lauren Norton, and this is one strange thing,

the show where we search the nation's news archives for stories that can't quite be explained. Strangers, although we are all no doubt familiar with the weird and wonderful creature known as the moose,

we be willing to bet that many of you have likely not seen one in person. According to the American

Wildlife Federation, moose live and move through, quote, the northern region of the United States,

from Maine to Washington throughout Canada and into Alaska. Now, we have quite a few friends in those

areas. When we did an informal poll, only one had seen a real

live moose in the wild. Though, she noted, she was very familiar with moose warning signs.

No, we don't mean beware of moose, though considering what we're going to discuss, that might be good advice.

No, having grown up in Maine, she got used to caution moose crossing signs scattered along the roads

and the highways. Before you write in to tell us that you have seen mini-moose, that you are perhaps a moose

yourself with excellent Wi-Fi and some extra time on your hooves, don't.

We accept that moose sightings and experiences are largely dependent on region and rurality,

a word that we might have made up, and perhaps even on luck,

and we also acknowledge that Alaska exists.

But today, we really want to concentrate on the creature itself, because moose are weird and wonderful.

If we didn't know that they were real, we might suspect

that someone had gotten drunk and made them up just for funsies. Those big expressive

muzzles, the skinny legs that don't seem capable of carrying so much animal, the absolute

majesty of those velvety antlers that aren't just for show.

National Geographic tells us that moose are usually brownish or blackish in color,

and that they're big, very big.

The largest of the deer species, as Geographic explains, with a height up to six feet,

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