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The relationship between the attendance of artificial salt licks by European moose, Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758), and biotic and economic-anthropogenic factors in the territory of the Leningrad Province was assessed. Data on the attendance of 19 mineral feeding sites obtained from automatic photo-video recorders (camera traps) were used in the analysis. Among the biotic factors that have a significant impact on attendance, the remoteness of the salt lick from the perennial water pool and the category of biotope according to the ground cover were revealed. Among the economic and anthropogenic factors – the remoteness of the salt lick from settlements with a population of more than 500 people. Similarly, the relationship between the sex-age structure of the registered moose flock with factors from the same categories was assessed. In addition, the effect of the recorded numbers of different sex-age groups on each other was assessed. A significant dependence of the registration of adult males on the area of wetlands and linear objects (power lines and gas pipelines) located within the boundaries of 1500 ha around the salt lick, as well as on remoteness from settlements, has been established. A significant dependence of the registration of yearling males on the area of wetlands around the salt lick and the number of registered adult males was established. A significant dependence of the number of registered adult females on the remoteness of the salt licks from a perennial water pool was noted. At the same time, the effect of any of the habitat groups on the recorded number of females has not been confirmed. Estimated population growth in sample areas depends on the sex ratio of registered individuals. The influence of limiting factors (predation, feed availability, hunting press) acting on moose populations in sample areas according to the methods used has not been revealed.

Modern remote sensing methods contribute to the study of previously unexplored features of the vital activity of animals, including mineral nutrition of the largest terrestrial mammals in the North-West of the Russian Federation. In the article, seasonal observations of individual moose [Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758)] on artificial salt licks were analyzed. The attendance of salt licks was monitored using automatic photo-video recorders (cam-era traps) from 2015 to 2020 on the territory of various hunting farms in 3 districts of the Leningrad Province. The annual, seasonal and daily cyclicity in the use of mineral feeding places by moose was revealed. For this research, from the total sample (n = 372) of registered individuals, 118 most reliably identified moose were specially selected, of which 72 (61%) showed cyclicity in salt licking with a certain frequency. In the remaining 46 individuals, the cyclicity was not observed for explainable objective reasons. Females, to a greater extent than males, are more settled in relation to places of mineral feeding, which is indirectly confirmed by the percentage in the selected groups. The time intervals between the periods of salt licking vary individually. Based on similar patterns of attendance inherent in most individuals, the nature of visiting artificial salt licks by moose during the active period of salt licking (April-November) is as follows: each “group of visits” consists of several (1–11 times per day) periods of salt licking for 1–5 days in a row, followed by a break of 10 to 20 days, followed by a repetition of the “group of visits”.

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