Roosevelt elk

Elk have thick bodies with slender legs and short tails. They have a shoulder height of 0.75–1.5 m (2 ft 6 in – 4 ft 11 in) with a nose-to-tail length of 1.6–2.7 m (5 ft 3 in – 8 ft 10 in). Males are larger and weigh 178–497 kg (392–1,096 lb) while females weigh 171–292 kg (377–644 lb). The largest of the subspecies is the Roosevelt elk (C. c. roosevelti), found west of the Cascade Range in the U.S. states of California, Oregon and Washington, and in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Roosevelt elk have been introduced into Alaska, where the largest males are estimated to weigh up to 600 kg (1,300 lb). More typically, male Roosevelt elk weigh around 318 to 499 kg (701 to 1,100 lb), while females weigh 261 to 283 kg (575 to 624 lb). Male tule elk weigh 204–318 kg (450–701 lb) while females weigh 170–191 kg (375–421 lb). The whole weights of adult male Manitoban elk range from 288 to 478 kilograms (635 to 1,054 lb). Females have a mean weight of 275 kilograms (606 lb). The elk is the second largest extant species of deer, after the moose. Antlers are made of bone, which can grow at a rate of 2.5 centimeters (0.98 in) per day. While actively growing, a soft layer of highly vascularized skin known as velvet covers and protects them. This is shed in the summer when the antlers have fully developed. Bull elk typically have around six tines on each antler. …

The elk ranges from central Asia through to Siberia and east Asia and in North America. They can be found in open deciduous woodlands, boreal forests, upland moors, mountainous areas and grasslands. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) list the species as least-concern species. The habitat of Siberian elk in Asia is similar to that of the Rocky Mountain subspecies in North America. During the Late Pleistocene their range was much more extensive, being distributed across Eurasia, with remains being found as far west as France. These populations are most closely related to modern Asian populations of the elk. Their range collapsed at the start of the Holocene, possibly because they were specialized to cold periglacial tundra-steppe habitat. When this environment was replaced largely by closed forest the red deer might have outcompeted the elk. Relictual populations survived into the early Holocene (until around 3000 years ago) in southern Sweden and the Alps, where the environment remained favorable. Elk were also present in the early Holocene of central Alaska, where it was the main hunted animal along with bison, and survived in Yukon until around 1400 BP (550 AD).

Introductions and reintroductions. As of 2014, population figures for all North American elk subspecies were around one million. …

Elk are among the most gregarious deer species. During the summer group size can reach 400 individuals. For most of the year, adult males and females are segregated into different herds. Female herds are larger while bulls form small groups and may even travel alone. Young bulls may associate with older bulls or female groups. Male and female herds come together during the mating season, which may begin in late August. Males try to intimidate rivals by vocalizing and displaying with their antlers. If neither bull backs down, they engage in antler wrestling, sometimes sustaining serious injuries.

Bulls have a loud, high-pitched, whistle-like vocalization known as bugling, which advertise the male's fitness over great distances. Unusual for a vocalization produced by a large animal, buglings can reach a frequency of 4000 Hz. This is achieved by blowing air from the glottis through the nasal cavities. Elk can produce deeper pitched (150 Hz) sounds using the larynx. Cows produce an alarm bark to alert other members of the herd to danger, while calves will produce a high-pitched scream when attacked.

Reproduction and life cycle. Female elk have a short estrus cycle of only a day or two, and matings usually involve a dozen or more attempts. By the autumn of their second year, females can produce one and, very rarely, two offspring. …

Although the 2006 National Survey from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service does not provide breakdown figures for each game species, hunting of wild elk is most likely the primary economic impact. While elk are not generally harvested for meat production on a large scale, some restaurants offer the meat as a specialty item, and it is also available in some grocery stores. The meat is higher in protein and lower in fat and cholesterol than beef, pork, and chicken. Elk meat is a good source of iron, phosphorus and zinc. A male elk can produce 10 to 11 kilograms (22 to 24 lb) of antler velvet annually and on ranches in the United States, Canada and New Zealand, it is collected and sold to markets in East Asia, where it is used in medicine. Some cultures consider antler velvet to be an aphrodisiac. However, consuming velvet from elk in North America may be risky since velvet from animals infected with chronic wasting disease may contain prions that could result in a human getting variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. Antlers are also used in artwork, furniture and other novelty items. All Asian subspecies, along with other deer, have been raised for their antlers in central and eastern Asia by Han Chinese, Turkic peoples, Tungusic peoples, Mongolians, and Koreans. Elk farms are relatively common in North America and New Zealand. …

The word "elk" originally denoted the moose, Alces alces. This animal had vanished from Britain by the end of the first millennium, and the meaning of the word therefore became rather vague to English-speakers. When settlers in the New World encountered both Alces alces and another large cervid, Cervus canadensis, they transferred the term "elk" to the latter. The former came to be known as the "moose", a word borrowed from an Algonquian language. The alternative name "wapiti" derives from the Shawnee and Cree word waapiti (in Cree syllabics, ᐙᐱᑎ or ᐚᐱᑎ), meaning "white rump". There is a subspecies of wapiti in Mongolia called the Altai wapiti (Cervus canadensis sibiricus). Cervus canadensis was recognized as a relative of the red deer (Cervus elaphus) of Europe, and wapitis were hence sometimes referred to as "red deer". Richard Hakluyt describes North America as a "lande ... full of many beastes, as redd dere" in his Discourse Concerning Western Planting (1584). Sir William Talbot's 1672 English translation of John Lederer's Latin Discoveries likewise calls the species "red deer", but notes in parentheses that they are "for their unusual largeness improperly termed Elks by ignorant people". …