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Ever since the discovery of its existence, the field journal of Nils Kosbok has been the most invaluable part of the NDMC Archives, not only for its historical importance but as a source of wisdom from our founding father. The original manuscript of the journal was acquired by NDMC in July of 1998 through an eBay auction, selling for $10,000. The seller, not being aware of the journal's significance, asked for an opening bid of $0.75. After NDMC made an exceptionally high bid to ensure winning the journal, the seller made several claims to further boost the price. Among the claims were that the journal was once a part of Abraham Lincoln's library, that its pages were made from a species of tree that is now extinct, and that the journal was haunted. Fortunately, no other bids were placed and the journal became NDMC's most prized artifact to date.
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The NDMC Archives present three particularly interesting passages from Kosbok’s field journal. The entries are about the effects of humidity on the head movements of moose.
July 7th, 1859 - Today is very humid and the herd seems to be reacting peculiarly, if not angrily, to this weather. In between the long periods of standing about, sometimes for hours, I observed several occurrences of definite raising and lowering, or perhaps "bobbing" of the moose’s heads. At this point, I am reluctant to even use the term "bobbing," as the head movements are rather slow, perhaps three times slower than, say, a deer’s head movements. One moose did this head movement twelve times in no less than six hours, but I may have missed some of it due to concentrating on another moose. It is apparent to me that the humidity has caused this behavior. Two days ago, the weather was cloudy and blustery, and each moose was moving its head about seven times per six hours; this averages slightly more than one movement per hour, but, once again, it is difficult to observe the entire group at one time.
July 11th, 1859 - The head movements I observed four days ago have decreased considerably, despite consistently humid weather. Perhaps the moose get accustomed to such weather after a few days and curb their head-bobbing reactions. I have decided that I will use the term "bobbing" after all to refer to the head movements.
July 12th, 1859 - Still humid, yet more raising and lowering of the head than ever! These wonderful, mysterious moose! I must observe other environmental factors to properly analyze this head-moving behavior, because, frankly, I am miffed. My helpless infatuation for these moose continues. I have also completely rejected the term "bobbing."
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