Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

The moose was used in Sweden to draw the sleighs of royal couriers since at least the reign of Charles IX. They proved effective in this role, able to travel around 230 miles (370 km) in a day.

Some sources state that as a development of this role, Charles XI (1660–1697) trialled the use of moose cavalry. The intention was apparently to replace the horses of one of his cavalry regiments with moose, to avoid the need to import horses as was the contemporary practice. It is said to have been thought that the animals would cause fear in the horses of enemy cavalry, allowing formations to be broken without the need for artillery or musketry.

The idea was allegedly presented to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Swedish historian Dick Harrison has stated that he has found no evidence for the use of moose cavalry in contemporary sources.