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Life and death.
This moose (Alces alces) skull may be one of the coolest things I have seen. A thread of (subjective!) observations:
This moose (Alces alces) skull may be one of the coolest things I have seen. A thread of (subjective!) observations:
This pre-prime bull moose died in the forest, most likely killed by wolves. Most of the carcass was moved about by further scavengers - leaving only the skull in place.
Ants then took an interest, and constructed a nest inside the skull to take advantage of the leftover organic material. After this, they began as normal to collect and bring food from the forest floor back to the nest.
Afterwards, this pine forest and understory burnt in an April wildfire. The fire reached 1-2m height and took out all of the short vegetation. However, the fire only lightly scorched the moose skull, and the ant nest inside was protected and spared.
The ant nest seed storage then sprouted, being the only seeds in the proximity which escaped the blaze. With no competition, the plants are growing fast! Who knows, maybe they will attract another moose? 
