Drawn to the salty flavors of road treatment residue, ungulates in Wyoming are known to lick vehicles in the winter. Photographer Timothy Mayo captured a pair of massive bull moose slurping away at an SUV in Grand Teton National Park last week. 

Though exciting to witness, wildlife officials highly discourage the practice, which exposes animals to chemicals and can lead to wildlife losing fear of vehicles.  

In Wyoming, bighorn sheep are perhaps best known for treating cars like popsicles. But as this image shows, moose are also attracted to the salty flavors of frosty cars. 

Katie Klingsporn reports on outdoor recreation, public lands, education and general news for WyoFile. She’s been a journalist and editor covering the American West for 20 years. Her freelance work has...

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  2. Moose make regular visits to my car in the winter. How exactly are we supposed to “discourage the practice”? Perhaps it is time to stop treating roads with anti-ice chemicals and encourage people to use snow tires and chains instead. Best of all, stay home when the roads are bad.😂😜

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  3. So what happened when the humans in this photo got cold and wanted back in their nice warm vehicle? Did the moose object?

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