HOUGHTON, Mich. (WZMQ) – A Houghton research group left for Isle Royale on Friday morning, for a winter project that studies one of the world’s tallest animals, moose. The Isle Royale Wolf Moose Project is a research endeavor that Michigan Technological University has been utilizing since the 1950s to further understand the relationship between Moose and Wolves in their environment.
The most recent study has looked at 3 chronic diseases and their correlation with humans. Periodontal disease, osteoarthritis, and osteoporosis are all diseases that can affect moose and human bone structure. Researchers said that although humans and moose share several similarities in cell development, the natural environment gives researchers a more unbiased pool of data to look at.
“Humans do things like smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, some people have better access to medical care versus not and all of those factors can kind of play a role in things like obesity as well can influence your likelihood of getting these diseases,” commented Co-Lead for Isle Royale Wolf-Moose Project Sarah Hoy.
