I think if you’re not Canadian or American, it’s easy to underestimate how big moose are; apologies for the source but: https://www.buzzfeed.com/natalyalobanova/guys-did-you-know-t...
EDIT: Apologies, apparently we have them in Europe too
EDIT: Apologies, apparently we have them in Europe too
edit: this is a good sample:
It is certainly the closest I have been to a moose, but living in that area, I encountered them fairly often. They are usually pretty docile.
> The aurochs was one of the largest herbivores in Holocene Europe. The size of an aurochs appears to have varied by region, with larger specimens in northern Europe than farther south. Aurochs in Denmark and Germany ranged in height at the shoulders between 155–180 cm (61–71 in) in bulls and 135–155 cm (53–61 in) in cows, while aurochs bulls in Hungary reached 160 cm (63 in).[45] (...) The body mass of aurochs appears to have shown some variability. Some individuals reached around 700 kg (1,540 lb), whereas those from the late Middle Pleistocene are estimated to have weighed up to 1,500 kg (3,310 lb).[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs
They went extinct in 1627.
By the way, the European bison (Wisent) almost also went extinct. In fact it was extinct in the wild, when the last free-living exemplar was shot in 1927, three hundred years after the last aurochs.
I assume the European moose / elk survived because it lived in colder, less populated regions.
Meanwhile growing up you're basically taught "look, don't touch" and "back away slowly" with regards to anything the size of a goose or bigger. This comes with lessons like don't mess with big/wild cats, and however large you expect the moose to be, it will inevitably be bigger.
Of course, I'm sure there are areas of the world where that knowledge will completely miss the actual relevant risk(s). Probably something to do with spiders/snakes, as they're just generally harmless here.