Because after all, who doesn’t want to seea piebald moose with china eyes? He looks magical, like something out of the better class of fantasy illustration: just strange enough to make you sure there’s something enchanted about him, but still vividly real in a way something like a dragon or a griffin so seldom is.  You could just saddle him up and ride off into the winter woods … you would have endless adventures with your faithful spotted moose.

Of course, a piebald individual can show up in almost any species.  There’s nothing magical about it.  Dogs and horses and cattle are bred for this kind of spotted coats, but otherwise it’s a matter of genetic chance.  Piebald animals have large irregular areas of unpigmented coat which show up as white against its usual color.  The difference goes down to the skin, which is pigmented and unpigmented in the same pattern.  The old English word “piebald” is a combination of the word “pie”, for magpie, and “bald”, which means a white patch or spot.  A bald eagle is called that for the same reason.  I knew the first part before I sat down to write this, but I learned the second along the way.

In return for your patience here’s another picture of the spotted moose.I love how short and sloping a moose’s back is, and how long its legs.