![]() ![]() states have reintroduced small elk herds into heavily wooded wilderness areas. ![]() Today they live primarily in western North America, especially in mountainous landscapes such as Wyoming's National Elk Refuge and Yellowstone National Park. This can confuse some trying to identify them. Population DistributionĮlk were once found across much of North America but they were killed off and driven to take refuge in more remote locations. Younger moose can grow antlers that look very similar to some elk antlers. Male elks stand around 5 feet (1.5 metres) tall at the shoulder, measure 8 feet (2. ![]() Additionally, elk antlers function as weapons in fights with other males vying for status within. Research shows that female elk heavily favor suitors with more antler points. The herds return to lower valley pastures where elk spend the season pawing through snow to browse on grass or settling for shrubs that stand clear of the snow cover. Mature male elks are around 25 larger than female elks. After six years, a bull elk’s antlers may have six plus points or tines on each side and grow to a spread of more than four feet. In the winter, elk reconvene into larger herds, though males and females typically remain separate. Males with the bigger antlers, typically older animals, usually win these battles and dominate small herds. Female elk called cows weigh around 500 pounds males can weigh over 700. These powerful animals strip the velvet off their new antlers using them in violent clashes that determine who gets to mate with whom. The elk ( PL: elk Cervus canadensis ), or wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. As one of the largest mammals in North America elk are noticeably larger than deer. Antlers and Matingĭuring the late summer breeding season the bugling of bull elk echoes through the mountains. Males (bulls) are generally lighter in color than females (cows) and will grow antlers beginning in the late spring and keep them until the early spring of. Each cow typically has a single calf, which can stand by the time it is 20 minutes old. Antlers are made of bone, which can grow at a rate of 2.5 centimeters (0.98 in) per day. The elk is the second largest extant species of deer, after the moose. Females have a mean weight of 275 kilograms (606 lb). In early summer, elk migrate to high mountain grazing grounds where the cows (females) will give birth. The whole weights of adult male Manitoban elk range from 288 to 478 kilograms (635 to 1,054 lb). Preparation for Breeding Seasonīull elk lose their antlers each March, but they begin to grow them back in May in preparation for the late-summer breeding season. A bull (male) elk's antlers may reach 4 feet above its head, so that the animal towers 9 feet tall. Elk are also called wapiti, a Native American word that means “light-colored deer.” Elk are related to deer but are much larger than most of their relatives. ![]()
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