New HampshireвЂ™s Rines doesnвЂ™t expect winter ticks to threaten the long-term survival of moose in her state. That represents a significant loss of income for fish and game departments, which depend on permit fees to fund their conservation work, and also to local economies that benefit from hunting.

But New Hampshire and Vermont have lately begun to cut the number of moose hunting permits they issue, because ticks are now killing so many moose. Moose hunting resumed for a while, to bring populations down to manageable densities. The moose also made themselves unwelcome by knocking down livestock fencing and demolishing maple syrup tubing as they moved through the forests. Then, in the 20th century, forests reclaimed farm fields in northern New England, and moose populations rebounded so successfully that fatal traffic accidents became commonplace. The animals had practically vanished from New Hampshire and Vermont by the 1890s, because of hunting and conversion of forests to farmland. (Female ticks swell to the size of small grapes when fully engorged.) Thanks in part to winter ticks, moose populations in many states are now declining,Дoes that matter? Moose numbers have fluctuated wildly over the past several hundred years. The moose often canвЂ™t survive the cold without their winter coat, or they die from anemia caused by the loss of so much blood. Moose with especially bad infestations-as many as 50,000 ticks-may remove 80 percent or more of their outer hair layer, giving them their ghostlike appearance. In their efforts to dislodge these pests, the moose rub so aggressively at their dark-brown outer guard hairs that they break them off close to the root, leaving only the whitish stubs behind. That lets winter ticks survive and reproduce there, as well as in other states along the southern part of the mooseвЂ™s range, including Montana, Idaho, and Minnesota.Д®ven more ticks pile onto the moose the following winter. But with shorter, warmer winters, itвЂ™s now normal for snow to melt by April in Vermont and New Hampshire. In the past, any winter tick that happened to fall off a moose would find itself dropped on snow-covered ground, where it would freeze or make for a highly visible snack for passing birds. The moose only get relief in April, when the ticks generally drop off to renew their reproductive cycle, laying eggs for the next generation. By then, itвЂ™s too late: The adult ticks are too appallingly numerous to do much about it. They have no history with this horrific nuisance and donвЂ™t make any attempt to groom off the immature ticks from October until February. They groom the ticks off themselves while theyвЂ™re still young and easy to dislodge. By fall, clusters of tick larvae are waiting in the undergrowth, and when a deer brushes against them, the young ticks latch on. These ticks typically lay their eggs in the spring, and the young develop during the summer. WhatвЂ™s climate change got to do with it? In the past, winter ticks (Dermacentor albipictus) were mostly found on white-tailed deer, which live in slightly warmer climes farther south. вЂњFat, ugly shingles with little creepy wavy legs.вЂќ вЂњThe ticks cover their bodies like shingles on a roof,вЂќ said Kristine Rines, a wildlife biologist and leader of the New Hampshire Fish and Game DepartmentвЂ™s Moose Project. But the spectacle of a moose with thousands upon thousands of engorged winter ticks clinging to its body has a way of making it seem painfully here and now. To most of us, climate change can seem like an abstraction, with consequences that we may not have to face till some vague time decades or centuries in the future. More precisely, they are white because climate change makes them vulnerable to winter ticks. Ghost moose are white because of winter ticks. But they arenвЂ™t at all like the revered Kermode bears of Canada, which owe their cream coloring to genetics or, as some First Nations believe, to supernatural powers. They call them вЂњghost moose.вЂќ These pale beasts have lately come to haunt forests across the northern United States.

The long dark moose