Experts: Drunk Moose Are a Myth

Hold those "Elkaholic" jokes: Every autumn, Swedish moose start doing things like falling in swimming pools and getting stuck in apple trees, supposedly after getting drunk on fermented apples, but experts say they probably aren't drunk after all, reports Radio Sweden via the Alaska Dispatch. The animals weigh up to 1,200 pounds, too much to get tipsy on the amount of fermented fruit they're likely to find, according to a wild animal expert at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. He says neither he nor any of the colleagues he has spoken to have ever encountered a moose that tested positive for high amounts of blood alcohol. It's not entirely clear why the moose do start acting like drunks this time of year, he says, though they may be simply trying to protect their fruit stashes. (More moose stories.)