Alces alces
Moose
Official State Land Mammal of Alaska
Governor Tony Knowles signed Senate Bill 265 into law on May 1, 1998, making the moose Alaska's official state land mammal. The law is recorded in Alaska Statutes, Title 44, Chapter 9, Section 078.
The designation came nearly four decades after Alaska achieved statehood in 1959. By the late 1990s, Alaska already had a state bird, flower, tree, and fish, but its most visible wild animal had no official title.
Students at Kalifornsky Beach Elementary School near Soldotna on the Kenai Peninsula noticed that Alaska lacked an official land mammal. They launched a campaign arguing that the moose was the perfect choice — an animal seen throughout Alaska, depended upon by indigenous communities, and instantly recognized as a symbol of the Last Frontier. Their effort reached the state legislature and led directly to SB 265.
Alaska is home to the largest moose subspecies in the world, Alces alces gigas, making the choice a natural one. The moose represented something other Alaskan animals did not: daily life in the wilderness. Alaskans regularly encounter moose in their yards, along highways, and in small towns. Choosing the moose honored an animal that is not just wild but deeply familiar to residents across the state.
Athabascan and other indigenous peoples begin hunting moose across Alaska
Alaska achieves statehood
Governor Tony Knowles signs SB 265; moose becomes official state land mammal
Over 7,000 moose harvested annually through managed hunting
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The moose stands for Alaska's identity as the Last Frontier. It is the largest member of the deer family and one of the few animals large enough to thrive in Alaska's harsh winters, vast open landscapes, and remote wilderness, which directly reinforces The Last Frontier nickname.
For thousands of years before European contact, indigenous Alaskans relied on moose for food, clothing, and tools. The Athabascan peoples of the Interior and other northern groups depended on moose as a cornerstone of daily survival. By designating the moose as a state symbol, Alaska acknowledged this relationship.
Today the moose remains a symbol of self-reliance. Tens of thousands of Alaskans hunt moose each year, harvesting over 7,000 animals annually. For many rural families, moose meat is a primary source of food through the long winter.
Alaska's moose belong to the subspecies Alces alces gigas, the largest moose found anywhere on Earth. Adult bulls can weigh up to 1,600 pounds and stand nearly 7 feet tall. Their antler spreads have been recorded at over 6 feet wide. This size advantage sets Alaska's moose apart from moose in Maine, Canada, or Scandinavia, and gives the state symbol a distinction no other state can claim.
The Athabascan people of Alaska's Interior have hunted moose for centuries, using nearly every part of the animal. Hides provided warm clothing and blankets. Bones and antlers became tools and weapons. Meat sustained families through winters that can last nine months. This deep dependence on moose is recognized today through Alaska's subsistence hunting laws, which protect the right of rural residents to hunt moose for food.
Alaska's state nickname is the Last Frontier, and the moose embodies that idea. Unlike states where large mammals are rare or confined to protected areas, Alaska has moose everywhere — in national parks, along highways, and sometimes wandering through suburban neighborhoods in Anchorage. The moose represents a place where wild animals and human communities still share the same landscape.
Alaska's state motto is North to the Future. The moose fits this forward-looking message well. Despite climate change, habitat shifts, and predator pressure from wolves and bears, moose populations in Alaska remain robust. The animal adapts, persists, and endures — qualities that match Alaska's identity as a state built on resilience and self-sufficiency, as outlined on Alaska's motto page.
"Hunters report harvesting over 7,000 of Alaska's estimated 175,000 moose each year. Going out to get a moose is a fall ritual for tens of thousands of Alaskans."
Moose are the largest members of the deer family. They have dark brown fur that shifts to lighter brown in summer. A distinctive skin flap called a bell hangs below the throat, and massive shoulder muscles create a visible hump. Only males grow antlers, and these are broad and flat rather than pointed like deer antlers.
Moose are herbivores that eat 40 to 60 pounds of vegetation per day. In summer they graze on willows, birch, and aquatic plants in ponds and wetlands. Winter diet shifts to woody browse like willow, aspen, and balsam fir bark. Moose are most active at dawn and dusk, and they are excellent swimmers capable of covering long distances in water.
Alaska has the largest moose population in North America, with an estimated 175,000 animals statewide. Moose range from the Unuk River in Southeast Alaska all the way to the Arctic Slope in the north, crossing regional zones discussed in States That Border Alaska.
They are most common in the boreal forests of Southcentral and Interior Alaska, where second-growth birch forests and river corridors provide ideal habitat. Moose are absent from the Aleutian Islands, Kodiak Island, and most islands in Prince William Sound.
Moose are among the easiest large animals to spot in Alaska. They are active during dawn and dusk, and they frequently appear along roadsides, especially where salt runoff from highways attracts them.
Moose are common throughout Alaska and are not threatened or endangered. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game manages moose populations through a permit-based hunting system that varies by Game Management Unit across the state.
Wolves and brown bears are the primary natural predators of moose in Alaska. Calves face the greatest risk in their first weeks of life. Winter severity also affects population health — harsh winters with deep snow can reduce survival rates significantly.
Over 7,000 moose are harvested each year through a combination of drawing hunts, registration hunts, and subsistence hunts. Going out to get a moose is a fall tradition for tens of thousands of Alaskans. For rural communities, subsistence moose hunting is protected by state law as essential to survival. The Alaska Board of Game adjusts hunting regulations in each unit based on population surveys conducted annually by ADF&G.
Warmer winters are changing moose habitat across Alaska. Shrub growth is expanding into tundra areas, potentially creating new habitat, but parasite loads — particularly winter ticks — increase as temperatures rise. Alaska wildlife managers monitor these shifts closely to keep moose populations healthy in a changing landscape.
The moose pairs with the bowhead whale as Alaska's two official mammals — one for land, one for sea. Both were designated through legislative action supported by community engagement; see Alaska's bowhead whale page for the marine timeline. Together they represent the full range of Alaska's wild ecosystems, from inland forests to Arctic coastal waters.
Alaska's state flag, designed by 13-year-old Benny Benson in 1927, features the Big Dipper constellation representing Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The bear and the moose are Alaska's two most recognizable large mammals, and both appear — one directly, one symbolically — in the state's official imagery.
Alaska's state tree is the Sitka spruce, designated in 1962. The largest Sitka spruce forests grow in Southeast Alaska and along the southern coast, while moose thrive in the boreal forests of the Interior and Southcentral regions. Both symbols represent Alaska's vast forest landscapes — the trees that define the terrain and the largest browser that shapes how those forests grow.
Alaska's nickname, the Last Frontier, and its motto, North to the Future, speak to a state defined by wilderness and possibility. The moose embodies both ideas. It is the animal most associated with Alaska's remote landscapes, and its ability to thrive across the state — from temperate coastal forests to the edge of the Arctic — mirrors Alaska's own character as a place where nature and human life meet on equal terms.
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