Elk
Elk, the largest members of the red deer group, belong to the Cervidae family and are classified under the genus Cervus, with notable species including Cervus canadensis (American elk or wapiti) and Alces alces (moose or European elk). Found across North America and Eurasia, these mammals inhabit diverse environments such as grasslands, forests, and mountain ranges. With a gestational period of approximately 7.5 to 8.5 months, female elk typically give birth to a single calf, although twins can occur occasionally.
Adult elk display a distinct sexual dimorphism; males, or bulls, weigh significantly more than females, or cows, and develop impressive antlers which they shed annually. They are herbivores, adjusting their diet seasonally, and may migrate in search of food. Elk are social animals, often forming loose herds that separate by sex for most of the year. During the rutting season, bulls engage in behaviors such as bugling and antler rubbing to establish dominance and attract mates. While they face predation from wolves and other large carnivores, elk populations are not currently endangered, although they are affected by habitat changes and human activities.
Subject Terms
Elk
Elk Facts
Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae (deer)
Genus and species: Cervus elaphus (red deer, twelve subspecies), Cervus canadensis (American elk or wapiti, thirteen subspecies); Alces alces (moose or European elk, eight subspecies)
Geographical location: Across North America and Eurasia
Habitat: Grasslands, piedmonts, forests, and mountain ranges
Gestational period: 7.5 to 8.5 months
Life span: Between eight and twenty years
Special anatomy: Four-chambered stomachs; bulls have antlers that can weigh more than thirteen kilograms (twenty-nine pounds)
Elk are the largest members of the red deer group of the Artiodactyla. This order has more than two hundred other species, including pigs, peccaries, wild boars, warthogs, hippos, cows, goats, sheep, moose, caribou, giraffes, camels, pronghorns, llamas, and deer. Antarctica and Australia are the only continents without any members of Artiodactyla. The fossil record of Artiodactyla dates back at least fifty million years. Female elk (cows) weigh between 225 and 320 kilograms (between 500 and 700 pounds) at maturity, while males (bulls) weigh between 320 and 500 kilograms (between 700 and 1,100 pounds). Elk calves weigh about fifteen kilograms (thirty-three pounds) at birth and add thirty kilograms (sixty-six pounds) within the next two weeks. Calf survival is highly variable; researchers have reported a range of eighteen to seventy calves at six months for every one hundred cows. The environment and the available nutrition influence all the average weights above.
Physical Characteristics
As in many deer species, calves have creamy-colored spots on their reddish-brown pelage. Bulls are distinctly different from cows in their winter coat color. During the winter, bulls have a dark-colored mane, in vivid contrast to their cream-colored coats, whereas cows are somewhat darker and lack the mane.
Bull elk grow antlers in mid to late May, with full antler development finished by August when velvet rubbing begins. Rubbing the velvet from the antlers gives an elk a highly polished rack. In aspen tree stands, elk leave scars on the tree trunks at about head height while removing the velvet. Antler lengths have been recorded at as much as 150 centimeters (about 60 inches). Elk antlers are branched and have tines (points) at their ends. March is the usual month for the shedding of the antlers. No good correlation exists between the age of the bull and the number of tines.
After copulation, usually in September and October, a cow delivers one calf eight months later. Although twins are produced, it is uncommon. Mature cows have an extremely high pregnancy rate, averaging 90 percent in some cases, although older cows (over eight years old) appear less fertile. The decline in fertility may be related to nutritional status. First-year bulls can be fertile, but it is more common for bulls in their third year to participate most in mating events. Bulls mate with more than one cow in their harems, which they defend from other bulls during the rutting season. There is insufficient evidence to support declining bull fertility with increasing age, but studies are ongoing.
Lifestyle
The foraging habits of elk are similar to those of other ungulates. Elk adapt their diet according to the seasons. Some elk populations migrate between spring and winter habitats for a better environment and food resources. Other populations do not migrate, remaining in their selected habitat year-round because of adequate forage and cover. Dried grasses, shrub branches, and shoots are eaten during winter. New shoots of grasses and other plants, such as aspens, oaks, and willows, are selected in the spring and summer. In certain areas of national forests in the southwest, areas are fenced off to prevent elk from grazing on young aspens.
Although wildlife experts have reported that elk can live more than twenty years, most do not. At birth, the sex ratios are reported to be one male for every female, but this changes dramatically as elk attain adult status (thirty males per one hundred females). Wolves and mountain lions are the primary predators of elk. Other predators include bears and coyotes.
Elk are social animals, tending to form loose congregations segregated by sex most of the year. Herds of elk are not constant; individuals tend to move about, leaving one herd and joining another. During the rutting season, bugling by the bull elk can be heard. In addition to bugling, other behaviors used by males during the rutting season to establish harems and territory include antler rubbing, digging with the forelimbs, posturing with the head and neck, and lowering the ears. Although elk may face some threats from human populations and agricultural development, they are not an endangered species.
Principal Terms
Antlers: outgrowths from the skull, composed entirely of bone, shed after the breeding season
Herbivore: an animal that feeds on plants for its diet
Mane: long, thick hair growing from the neck
Piedmont: area at the base of mountains
Pelage: a mammal’s fur coat
Predator: an animal that preys on other animals for its food
Rut: activities associated with bull elk mating behaviors
Ungulate: mammals with cloven hooves
Velvet: a hairy skin richly endowed with blood vessels that covers developing antlers
Bibliography
“Artiodactyla - Pigs, Hippos, Giraffes, Camels, Moose, Goats, Bison, Deer.” New Hampshire PBS, 2023, nhpbs.org/wild/Artiodactyla.asp. Accessed 2 July 2023.
Bauer, Erwin A., and Peggy Bauer. Elk: Behavior, Ecology, Conservation. Stillwater, Minn.: Voyageur Press, 1999.
“Colorado Parks & Wildlife - Rocky Mountain Elk.” Colorado Parks and Wildlife, cpw.state.co.us/conservation/Pages/CON-Elk.aspx. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.
“Elk - Facts, Diet, Habitat & Pictures on Animalia.bio.” Animalia Bio, www.animalia.bio/elk. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.
Feldhamer, George A., Lee C. Drickamer, and Stephen H. Vessey. Mammalogy: Adaptation, Diversity, and Ecology. 4th ed., Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2015.
Feldhamer, George A., Bruce Carlyle Thompson, and Joseph A Chapman, eds. Wild Mammals of North America. 2nd ed., Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2003.
Hall, Eugene R. The Mammals of North America. 2 vols., 2nd ed., New York: Wiley, 1981.