Moose Emoji

A moose head with massive palmate antlers: the emoji ambassador of the boreal forest. 🫎 represents moose, Canadian identity, Scandinavian wildlife, northern wilderness, strength, and the vast circumpolar forests that most of the world's animal emojis had been ignoring. It was approved in Unicode 15.0 (2022) and added to Emoji 15.0.

The moose emoji proposal made its case bluntly: the animal emoji set was saturated with Southern-climate creatures but had nothing representing the boreal biome — the largest land biome on Earth, stretching across Canada, Scandinavia, and Russia. The moose, as the world's largest living deer species (standing up to 7 feet at the shoulder and weighing 1,800 pounds), was the obvious candidate.

In texting, 🫎 carries national identity weight. For Canadians, it's practically a second flag. For Scandinavians, it's a beloved cultural icon. For everyone else, it's the animal that represents "somewhere cold and wild" — and it's surprisingly funny in the way that a 1,500-pound animal that can dive 18 feet underwater to eat water lilies tends to be.

On social media, 🫎 is the Canadian patriotism emoji (alongside 🍁). It shows up in "only in Canada" content, hockey culture, wilderness appreciation, and the annual tradition of posting moose-in-your-backyard photos from suburban Anchorage and rural Ontario.

In Scandinavian social media, the moose (or elk, as they call it) is equally beloved. Sweden's moose warning road signs are so popular with tourists — especially Germans — that they're stolen several times a year from popular routes.

Wildlife photographers and outdoor enthusiasts use 🫎 for nature content: moose watching, wildlife safaris in Alaska and Canada, and national park visits. Anchorage alone has roughly 1,500 urban moose, making moose encounters a regular feature of daily life.

The primitive strength and solitary nature of moose also gives 🫎 a "big energy" connotation. "That's 🫎 energy" means someone is quietly massive, unbothered, and going about their business.

🫎 is almost never flirty. It's a wildlife/culture/personality emoji. The only romantic reading: someone calling you their 🫎 means they admire your quiet strength and commanding presence.

• •Wildlife photo sharing = friendly, sharing an experience
• •Calling you 🫎 = compliment about your presence
• •Trip planning mention = could be a relationship-level invitation
• •Canadian pride = just being Canadian

The moose emoji exists because someone noticed the animal emoji set had a geographical bias. The original proposal pointed out that emoji animals were overwhelmingly from Southern climates — lions, elephants, giraffes — while the boreal forest (the largest land biome on Earth, covering 17% of the planet's surface) had zero representation.

The moose was the obvious choice. It's the largest living deer species — bulls can weigh up to 820 kg (1,808 pounds) and stand 2.3 meters (7'8") at the shoulder. Their antlers can span 1.8 meters (6 feet) and grow up to a pound per day, making them the fastest-growing bone structure of any mammal.

The naming was diplomatically tricky: in North America it's a "moose" (from the Eastern Abenaki word mos), but in Europe the same animal (Alces alces) is called "elk" — while in North America "elk" refers to a completely different animal (Cervus canadensis, the wapiti). The proposal included both keywords.

The emoji was approved in Unicode 15.0 (2022), filling a biome gap that had been open since emojis began.

Proposed in September 2018, revised 2021 (L2/21-197). Approved in Unicode 15.0 (September 2022) at codepoint U+1FACEU+1FACE. The proposal argued the animal emoji set had a Southern-climate bias and lacked any representative of the boreal biome — the largest terrestrial biome on Earth. Keywords included MOOSE and ELK (reflecting the British English name for the same animal).

In Canada, the moose is a national symbol on par with the maple leaf. It appears on provincial coats of arms, tourism marketing, and the cultural imagination. Roughly 500,000-1,000,000 moose live in Canada. The Canadian quarter actually features a caribou (not a moose, despite common confusion), but the moose is arguably more culturally prominent.

In Scandinavia, the moose ("elk") holds a similarly beloved status. In Sweden, roughly 5,000 moose-vehicle collisions occur annually, making the triangular moose warning sign both a genuine safety device and the most popular tourist souvenir — so popular it gets stolen repeatedly. In Norse mythology, moose are linked to the gods and seen as protectors of the forest.

For Indigenous peoples across the circumpolar North — Cree, Innu, Sámi, and others — the moose is a foundational resource: food, clothing, tools, and spiritual significance. The moose's role in Indigenous cultures predates any nation-state symbolism by thousands of years.

In Alaska, moose are essentially urban wildlife. Anchorage has about 1,500 moose living within city limits. "There's a moose in the parking lot" is a normal Tuesday.

Globally, 🫎 carries an unambiguous "northern wilderness" connotation. It's one of the few animal emojis with a strong geographic association.

• •Moose are the largest living deer species. The biggest confirmed specimen weighed 820 kg (1,808 lbs) and stood 2.33 m (7'8") at the shoulder — taller than most basketball players.
• •Moose can dive up to 18 feet underwater to eat aquatic plants. They have specialized nasal muscles that close their nostrils while submerged and can stay under for 50 seconds.
• •Sweden's moose warning road signs are stolen so frequently by German tourists that some high-traffic routes replace them multiple times per year. They're the country's most popular unofficial souvenir.
• •Moose antlers grow up to a pound per day — the fastest-growing bone of any mammal. A full rack can weigh 80 pounds and span 6 feet, then shed completely and regrow annually.
• •Anchorage, Alaska has approximately 1,500 moose living within city limits. 'There's a moose in the parking lot' is a routine occurrence, not a headline.
• •The Canadian quarter actually features a caribou, not a moose — despite widespread belief otherwise. The moose is culturally prominent but lost the coin design to the caribou in 1937.

• •Some people confuse 🫎 with 🦌 (deer). Moose are vastly larger — 10x heavier than a white-tailed deer — with distinctive flat, palmate antlers instead of pointed, branching ones.
• •Others assume 'moose' and 'elk' are different animals. In Europe, they're the same (Alces alces). The confusion arises because North America uses 'elk' for a completely different species (wapiti, Cervus canadensis).

• •Rocky and Bullwinkle (1959-1964) — Bullwinkle J. Moose is the most famous moose in American pop culture. The cartoon made moose endearingly goofy for generations of viewers.
• •Northern Exposure (1990-1995) — The TV show's iconic opening sequence featured a moose walking through a small Alaskan town, cementing the image of moose as neighbors in northern communities.
• •Brother Bear (2003 Disney) — Rutt and Tuke, two Canadian moose voiced by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas (reprising their Bob & Doug McKenzie personas), became beloved comedy characters.
• •Sweden's Stolen Road Signs — The ongoing phenomenon of tourists stealing moose warning signs has become a cultural meme in its own right, generating international news coverage and souvenir shops selling replicas.

• •Codepoint: U+1FACE. No variation selector needed.
• •Shortcodes: :moose::moose: (GitHub, Slack, Discord).
• •Added in Unicode 15.0 (2022) — may not render on older devices.
• •In i18n contexts: 'moose' (North America) = 'elk' (Europe). But North American 'elk' is a different animal (wapiti). Handle translations carefully.
• •Part of the Animals & Nature category.

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