Elk

Quick Take

• The eerie bugling call of a bull elk isn't produced the way you'd expect. It's a two-part trick that uses completely different parts of its body simultaneously. Hear how bugling works →
• Elk and moose share a name in some parts of the world, a fact whose explanation reveals a centuries-old case of mistaken identity. Trace the naming mix-up →
• A parasite that doesn't harm white-tailed deer at all turns out to be fatal for elk, and the transmission route is stranger than you'd guess. Discover the fatal parasite →
• Elk were gifted to an entire country by a U.S. president, and they have since become both a sport and an ecological headache elsewhere. See where elk were introduced →

The elk is the second-largest wild herbivore, or cervid, after the moose. The Roosevelt’s elk, Tule elk, Rocky Mountain elk, and the Manitoban elk are four of the six North American subspecies that still exist in the wild, while the Eastern and the Merriam’s Eastern elk subspecies are extinct.

Elk are popular as hunting game, while their meat is a specialty in some restaurants and stores, and their antlers are used in novelty items and traditional East Asian medicine. Although some herds suffer from infectious disease, the general population is increasing and listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

5 Incredible Elk Facts

• The male bugling sound is produced by simultaneously roaring and whistling, as evidenced by the simultaneous movement of both their lips and nostrils.
• Elk consume an average of 9.1 kg (20 lbs) of vegetation every day.
• Adult males (bulls) can run up to 40 mph.
• The elk is the unofficial mascot of Estes Park, Colorado, since it is one of the most often spotted wildlife there.
• Wapiti (waapiti) is a word meaning “white rump” in Shawnee and Cree.

Scientific Name and Origins

These animals are often confused with the moose, not only because they look similar but because the moose (scientific name Alces alces or Cervus alces) is called “elk” in Eurasia. The scientific name of the elk is Cervus canadensis, with C. c. canadensis being the species type. There are 14 subspecies. Although they are both animals in the deer family Cervidae, elk are in the subfamily Cervinae or Old World Deer, while the moose is in the subfamily Capreolinae (Odocoileinae) or New World deer.

The word “elk” historically had a meaning like “large deer.” English-speaking people in North America in the 17th century were familiar with the elk’s relative, the red deer (Cervus elaphus), but not the moose, so they gave the name “elk” to Cervus canadensis, also referred to as “red deer.” Linguistically, the romanized ancient Greek word for the Latin Alces (moose) was álkē, which during the Early Middle Ages in the 8th century was called elch, elh, and eolh in Old English. It then became elk, elcke or elke in Middle English or the Latinized alke. The Asian subspecies of elk are sometimes called maral, though the word mainly applies to the Caspian red deer, a red deer subspecies (Cervus elaphus maral).

Elk are related to an ancient lineage of red deer in Asia and are still called red deer there. They came to North America across the Bering Strait about 120,000 years ago, as did the caribou and other animals. Between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago, they advanced as far as Colorado, and there may have been as many as 10 million elk in North America when European settlement began.

Types

North American elk

• C. canadensis roosevelti (Roosevelt’s elk)
• C. canadensis nannodes (Tule elk)
• C. canadensis manitobensis (Manitoban elk)
• C. canadensis nelsoni (Rocky Mountain elk)
• C. canadensis canadensis (Eastern elk; extinct for over a century)
• C. canadensis merriami (Merriam’s Western elk; extinct for over a century)

Eastern Asian elk (wapiti)

• C. c. sibiricus (Altai wapiti)
• C. c. songaricus (Tian Shan wapiti)
• C. c. xanthopygus (Manchurian wapiti)
• C. c. alashanicus (Alashan wapiti)

Central Asian red deer (Southern group)

• C. c. macneilli (Sichuan deer)
• C. c. kansuensis (Kansu red deer)
• C. c. wallichii (Tibetan red deer)
• C. c. hanglu (Kashmir stag)

Appearance

The 14 subspecies are all thought to be variations of the same species with slight differences in appearance and behavior known as climate-related lifestyle factors. All have thick bodies with short tails, small and defined rump patches, and slender legs. They have a shoulder height of 0.75 to 1.5 m (2 ft 6 in to 4 ft 11 in) with a nose-to-tail length of 1.6 to 2.7 m (5 ft 3 in to 8 ft 10 in). Males weigh 178 to 497 kg (392 to 1,096 lbs) while females weigh 171 to 292 kg (377 to 644 lbs).

The exception is the largest subspecies, Roosevelt’s elk, where the largest males can weigh up to 600 kg (1,300 lbs), but on average 318 to 499 kg (701 to 1,100 lbs), with females weighing 261 to 283 kg (575 to 624 lbs). Tule elk also have a different weight, with males weighing 204 to 318 kg (450 to 701 lbs) and females weighing 170 to 191 kg (375 to 421 lbs). All elk grow a thick winter coat during the fall, but only North American elk (both male and female) have thin neck manes.

All male animals have antlers that are made of bone and grow 2.5 cm, or about an inch, a day. The antlers can grow over 20 inches per year in length. During growth, a layer of velvet covers them. They shed the velvet covering in the spring after the antlers are done developing. Since testosterone drives the formation of antlers, when the testosterone level drops in late winter and early spring, the antlers shed. Some antlers have multiple tines. North American and Siberian elk both have the largest antlers, and the Altai wapiti has the smallest, with Roosevelt’s elk antlers weighing 18 kg (40 lbs).

Behavior

Males are called bulls and female elk are called cows. These animals are some of the most social deer species, with group sizes during the summer reaching up to 400 individuals. Adult males and females segregate themselves into different herds during most of the year, with female herds being larger and males creating small groups or being solitary. Young bulls live in female herds or with older, less aggressive bulls.

During mating season, bulls engage in rutting behavior and compete for females, which they include in harems of 20 or more cows. They try to intimidate rivals with bugling and antler displays, continuing with antler wrestling. They may also dig wallows, or holes in the ground, to urinate in and roll around in, giving themselves a distinctive scent to attract cows. Bulls also defend their harem from other males and predators and herd them when they stray from the harem.

The bulls’ vocalization, called bugling, can reach 4,000 Hz. They do it by blowing air from the opening between the vocal folds (the glottis) through the nostrils. They can also create deeper-pitched sounds of 150 Hz through the larynx.

Elk rub against trees and other objects to shed their winter coats by early summer. Like several deer species, they migrate into higher altitudes in the spring and retreat in the fall, creating summer and winter ranges. They travel up to 169 miles (270 km) during their longest migration in the continental U.S.

Habitat

The animal’s native habitat is Eastern Asia and North America, but it was introduced to Central Asia. It had a far wider habitat range in prehistoric times, which included Europe. The species lives in mountain meadows, forests, and forest edges.

There have been elk in New Zealand since 1909, when President Theodore Roosevelt made a gift of a herd of 20 animals that were released on the South Island. Today, elk there are hunted as a commercial sport and are classified as North American elk.

In addition, elk were introduced to Argentina in the early 1900s, but they are now considered an invasive species, competing for food with native animals.

Diet

As ruminants, these animals have four-chambered stomachs. But while moose and white-tailed deer are mainly browsers, elk are mainly grazers. They feed in the morning and evening and seek shelter to digest. During winter, they travel to wooded areas for greater availability of food. Their diet is herbivorous, consisting of native grasses year-round, tree bark in winter, and shrubs and tree leaves and sprouts in summer. Each day they eat 9.1 kg (20 lbs) of vegetation on average.

Predators and Threats

Typical predators of these animals are wolves, coyotes, brown bears, North American black bears, Asiatic black bears, cougars, and Siberian tigers. Coyote packs, brown bears, and black bears are the main predators of elk calves, with brown and black bears being the top predators. The killing of young cows affects population growth more than that of bulls or calves. Bulls are weakened by chasing females and fighting other males, or when they lose their antlers in late winter, and so are more likely to be preyed upon by wolves then. However, elk can reduce predation risk by switching from grazing (open areas, heads down) to browsing (wooded areas, heads up).

Other threats to these animals are several bacterial infectious diseases and parasites, with some being transmissible to livestock. The main host of the brainworm or meningeal worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis) is the white-tailed deer, which is not affected, but the worm is fatal for elk. Elk can also consume the same parasite through snails and slugs, which are intermediate hosts.

Other fatal parasites are the liver fluke (Fascioloides magna) and the lungworm Dictyocaulus viviparus. Chronic wasting disease is transmitted by prions (pathogenic agents) and affects their brain tissue. It can be transmitted through consuming elk antler velvet, which in humans results in variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease.

A bacterial disease, brucellosis, exists in the U.S. only in Yellowstone. It can be transmitted to domesticated cattle, bison, and horses and cause infertility, spontaneous abortions, and decreased milk production. In humans, it results in undulant fever and flu-like symptoms, which can persist for years. Gastrointestinal parasites include Eimeria sp. and Ostertagia sp. Another disease of concern is elk hoof disease, which is connected to treponemal bacteria and causes hoof deformities leading to extreme lameness.

For humans, elk are not only a hunting game species, but their antlers are often used in traditional Chinese medicine, with antler velvet used as an aphrodisiac believed to increase well-being and testosterone levels in both men and women. The meat is available in some restaurants and grocery stores. It is higher in protein, lower in fat and cholesterol, and leaner than chicken, pork, and beef, as well as being a good source of zinc, phosphorus, and iron.

Antlers are also used in novelty items such as artwork and furniture, with elk being raised for their antlers by Asian peoples. North America and New Zealand have many elk farms. Native Americans hunted elk for their hides, which were used for teepee coverings, clothing, and footwear.

Reproduction and Life Cycle

Bulls and cows join each other during the mating season starting in late August and ending in early winter. Bulls make a dozen or more mating attempts during the cows’ short estrus lasting one or two days. Cows typically produce one, and occasionally two, offspring, which are called calves. Cows reproduce most often when they weigh at least 200 kg (440 lbs).

The gestation period is 240 to 262 days, and the calves weigh between 33 and 35.3 lbs (15 and 16 kg) at birth. They are born with spots that they lose by the end of summer. Cows isolate themselves for birth and until the calf can flee from predators. Calves can join the herd after two weeks, and at two months are fully weaned. Before age three, elk leave their birth ranges. Their lifespan is 10 to 13 years and sometimes 15 years in the wild and 20 or more years in captivity.

Population

The population of elk herds in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is about 40,000 individuals. There are 9,000 to 13,000 elk in the Teton herd, which migrate south from the southern parts of Yellowstone National Park and west from the Shoshone and Bridger-Teton National Forests to spend their winters on the National Elk Refuge. The population of Cervus canadensis is increasing and listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.