Hans Nilsson of Eda, Sweden had long hoped to film a white moose.
And last Thursday, the local commissioner lucked out when the beautiful, majestic animal waded through a pond near him.
It’s estimated there are only abut 100 of these white moose left in Sweden.
Municipal council commission member Hans Nilsson told a Swedish radio station Sverige Radio he’s a nature lover who has frequently attempted to film or photograph the rare moose. After three years, he finally caught stunning footage of the bull moose crossing a shallow river and walking through tall grass. The moose appears to be entirely white, with soft white velvet coating even its antlers.
“You see the white moose go down into the water… climb on the other side and then bite some leaves and then turn to me and look straight into the camera.
Nilsson estimates he was about 5 metres away from the moose.
“It was a great feeling when you see such a unique animal that is not at all concerned with people. It is a stately moose with fifteen sixteen tags.
On film, he caught sight of how it came to him. Now the film is spreading like a riot on social media.
“This is as great as seeing a leopard in Africa,” says Nilsson.
According to Hans Nilsson, there are about fifty white whales in western Värmland in the municipality of Eda and Arvika.
A story in National Geographic detailed the reasons behind why the moose is completely white. The colouring is not the result of albinism, which is a congenital condition that occurs because of a loss of pigmentation. Animals and people get albinism. The white moose got that way from a recessive gene.
While it’s not common for people to see white moose, compared to their brown counterparts, videos of the animal have surfaced before.
In late June, two white moose twins were captured on camera in Norway. Lee Kantar, Maine’s state deer and moose biologist, explained to National Geographic at the time that he thought it was possible the moose were albino or piebald (the footage wasn’t clear enough to make a better determination).
Göran Ericsson is a professor of elk and moose for the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. He explained that, while the condition is rare, he sees news of white moose surface every year, and it’s possible the prevalence of these ghostly animals is increasing.
Video courtesy of Hans Nilsson, Youtube
