Ulla Malmgren stocks up on coffee. She makes meals ahead. Why? Because TheGreat Moose Migration is coming to TV in Sweden. The TV show will last 20 days. She doesn’t want to miss a moment.

“Sleep? Forget it. I don’t sleep,” she says.

She isn’t alone. The show began in 2019. Nearly one million people watched. By 2024, nine million people were watching.

Cameras follow the migrating moose. Dozens of moose swim across the Ångerman River in central Sweden. The moose do this every spring. Their path takes them to summer pastures for grazing. 

Of course, for much of the time, not much happens on the TV show. Fans like that too. “I feel relaxed, but at the same time I’m like, ‘Oh, there’s a moose. Oh, what if there’s a moose? I can’t go to the toilet!’” says William Garp Liljefors. He has collected more than 150 moose plush toys since 2020.

The moose have walked the same route for thousands of years. So it’s easy for a camera crew to find them. The crew uses 26 remote cameras, seven night cameras, and a drone. No one gets too close to the moose. No one wants to interrupt the migration.

Roughly 300,000 moose wander the forest in Sweden. Swedes love the huge beasts. They call the moose “King of the Forest.” And for good reason. A bull moose can grow as tall as six feet, 10 inches, at shoulder height. It can weigh nearly 1,000 pounds.

But these giants are gentle. They’re so shy humans rarely see them. Johan Erhag works on The Great Moose Migration. He says you see a moose “when you’re out driving maybe once or twice in your life.” He thinks that’s why the show has become so popular. He says the show brings “nature to everyone’s living room.”

Mega-fans commit to watching as many moose hours as possible. Some viewers post photos of their dogs and cats staring at their televisions too.

The Lord is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made. — Psalm 145:9