лось - это elk или moose

[azu]

Учу детей (своих) английскому - как будет по-английски лось - elk (как я всегда думала) или moose? В мультиках про Микки Майса везде moose.

[Victorian]

Пусть учат оба слова.

[алешаBG]

Victorian + 1
UK - elk
US - moose

[Victorian]

Moose, конечно более характерно для США, elk - Europe.

[sledopyt]

two different species:

http://press.princeton.edu/birds/mammals/elk/elksp.html

[Victorian]

Если рассуждать на уровне охотоведов или зоологов, то с этими словами не так все просто. Но детям, конечно, подробности такого рода ни к чему ..

[Victorian]

Вот из Yahoo ответ, например:
This can be confusing as the names of these animals vary by country. In Europe, Alces alces, the animal known as moose in North America, is called an elk. The animal Americans call an elk, Cervus canadensis, is known in Europe as the wapiti. However, both these animals are deer - the deer family includes moose, elk, caribou (reindeer in Europe), white-tailed deer, mule deer, red deer, fallow deer, roe deer, sambar, chital, etc., etc.

The moose is the largest of all deer and is easily identified from other deer not only by its size but by its huge palmate antlers (in males) and by its bulbous, overhanging nose. The elk is smaller and more slender, without the bulbous nose. The males have a shaggy 'throat sack' and branching antlers. Other North American deer, such as mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), are much smaller than either of these species, with shorter, more rounded faces and smaller, more forward-pointing antlers.

[azu]

Спасибо всем!
To sledopyt: судя по вашей ссылке, то, что водится в наших лесах, больше похоже на moose.
В общем, стало понятно, в каком направлении думать.

[Codeater]

Я за moose. Кстати, лось нифига на оленя не похож. :) Не перепутаешь.

[sascha]

В вики вопрос тоже кратко разобран:

The animal bearing name Alces alces is known in Europe as elk and in North America as moose. The name elk is connected with several earlier European variants—Latin: alces, Old Norse: elgr, Scandinavian: elg, and German: Elch—all of which refer to this animal. (вполне можно добавить в этот ряд и русское: лось)

Confusingly, the word elk in North America refers to the second largest deer species, Cervus canadensis, also known as the wapiti.

The word moose is derived from the Algonquian Eastern Abnaki name moz, which loosely translates to "twig eater".