Elk (Cervus canadensis): Wapiti Facts, Bugling and Habitat

Elk or wapiti? The name confusion

The word elk causes more confusion than almost any other animal name. In medieval England, elk meant the moose of northern Europe, Alces alces. When English settlers reached North America, they met both moose and this large red-brown deer, and the name elk slipped onto the wrong animal. The moose took its own name from an Algonquian word.

The result is that a European reading about an “elk” usually pictures a moose, while an American pictures Cervus canadensis. To avoid the problem, many scientists prefer the name wapiti, from a Shawnee and Cree word meaning “white rump”. For a side-by-side look at the two animals, see moose vs elk.

Elk were long treated as a subspecies of the European red deer. Genetic studies since the late 1990s have shown that they are a separate species, explained in are elk and red deer the same species?

Appearance

An elk has a thick body on long, slender legs, a short tail and a pale, buff-colored rump patch that stands out from a distance. In summer the body coat is reddish to tan-brown, while the head, neck and legs are darker brown. In fall elk grow a thicker winter coat that is grayer on the body, and bulls develop a shaggy dark mane on the neck. The heavy winter coat is shed in early summer, often in untidy patches.

Only bulls grow antlers. A mature bull typically carries about six points (tines) on each side, sweeping back over the shoulders. Antlers are true bone and grow remarkably fast, by up to about 2.5 cm (1 in) a day in early summer. While growing, they are covered in soft, blood-rich skin called velvet. By late August the bone hardens, the velvet dries and the bull rubs it off on trees and shrubs. The antlers are shed every year in late winter or early spring, usually around March and April.

Calves are born with white spots on a reddish coat, which helps hide them in grass and dappled shade. The spots fade by the end of their first summer.

How big is an elk?

Elk vary in size between subspecies and regions, and bulls are much heavier than cows.

The Roosevelt elk of the Pacific Northwest is the largest form, with big bulls estimated at up to about 600 kg (1,300 lb). The Rocky Mountain elk is the most widespread, and the tule elk of California is the smallest of the North American forms. A large pair of antlers can weigh up to about 18 kg (40 lb). Only the moose is a larger deer. More detail is in how big is an elk?

Habitat and range

Elk use a mix of open and wooded country: forest edges, aspen groves, mountain meadows, foothills, sagebrush valleys and grasslands. The best numbers today are in the Rocky Mountains, from Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho north into Alberta and British Columbia. Roosevelt elk live in the rainforests and coastal hills of Washington, Oregon, northern California and Vancouver Island, and tule elk live in parts of California.

In mountains, many herds migrate. They move uphill in spring as the snow melts and new grass grows, then return to lower valleys in fall. Some elk in the Greater Yellowstone area travel more than 200 km (125 mi) between summer and winter ranges.

Before European settlement, elk lived across much of the continent, from the Pacific to the Appalachians. Hunting and farming wiped them out in the East during the 1800s, and the eastern subspecies died out. Since the early 1900s, elk from the West have been released in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia and other states. Kentucky now has the largest herd east of the Rocky Mountains.

Outside North America, wapiti live in parts of Central Asia, southern Siberia, Mongolia and northeastern China. Elk were introduced to New Zealand’s Fiordland in 1905, where they have largely hybridized with introduced red deer, and to Argentina. See where do elk live? for maps of the main herds.

Diet: grazing and browsing

Elk are herbivores and ruminants, with a four-chambered stomach that ferments plant food. Unlike moose and white-tailed deer, which mainly browse on leaves and twigs, elk are mostly grazers, like cattle. Grasses and sedges form much of their diet, along with flowering herbs such as clover and dandelion.

In winter, when grass is buried under snow, they browse more on shrubs, twigs, conifer needles and the bark of trees such as aspen. An adult elk eats around 9 kg (20 lb) of plant food a day. Elk feed mostly in the early morning and evening and rest in sheltered spots between meals to chew the cud. Large herds can strongly affect plants: in parts of the West, heavy browsing by elk has held back the growth of young aspen.

Behavior and herds

Elk are among the most social of all deer. Cows, calves and young animals live in herds that can number hundreds in summer, especially in open alpine meadows. For most of the year, adult bulls live separately, alone or in small bachelor groups.

Elk communicate with a wide range of sounds. Cows bark sharply to warn of danger, cows and calves keep in touch with soft mews and chirps, and bulls bugle during the breeding season. Raising the pale rump hair is a visual alarm signal to the rest of the herd.

Elk are good runners and swimmers. They can reach about 65 km/h (40 mph) in short bursts and cross wide rivers. Herds are most active at dawn and dusk.

The rut: bugling and harems

The breeding season, or rut, runs from late August into October and peaks in September. Bulls then gather groups of cows, often called harems, which can hold 20 cows or more. To claim and keep them, a bull bugles: a loud call that starts low, rises to a high whistle and often ends in grunts. Bugling advertises his size and fitness to cows and warns rival bulls away.

Bulls also wallow in mud soaked with their own urine, which gives them a strong smell, and thrash shrubs with their antlers. Rival bulls of similar size may walk side by side to size each other up. If neither backs down, they lock antlers and shove, sometimes causing serious injury. Young bulls with unbranched “spike” antlers rarely win a harem. The full story of the call is in why do elk bugle?

Reproduction and lifespan

Cows are pregnant for about eight to eight and a half months. Most give birth to a single calf in late May or June, weighing about 13–18 kg (30–40 lb). Twins are rare. The mother hides her calf in tall grass or brush for the first weeks, returning to nurse it, then the two rejoin the herd. Calves grow quickly and are weaned during their first fall.

Many calves are lost to predators in their first summer. Elk that survive to adulthood often live 10–15 years in the wild, some longer, and captive elk can pass 20 years.

Predators and threats

Gray wolves, cougars, grizzly bears and black bears all prey on elk, and coyotes take calves. In the Greater Yellowstone area, bears kill many newborn calves each spring, while wolves take more adults in winter. Bulls are most at risk in late winter, after a rut that leaves them thin and worn out.

Diseases are a growing concern. Chronic wasting disease, a fatal prion disease of deer and elk, has spread to many states and provinces. Habitat loss, collisions with vehicles and the loss of migration routes to fences, roads and housing also affect herds.

Conservation status

The IUCN Red List classifies the elk as Least Concern. The species has a large range and a population in North America of around one million, which has grown greatly since the low point of the early 1900s, when it may have fallen below 100,000.

Two North American subspecies are extinct: the eastern elk of the Appalachians and Great Lakes region, and Merriam’s elk of the Southwest. Tule elk fell to only a handful of animals in the 1870s and have recovered to several thousand under protection in California. Some Asian populations are less secure, threatened by poaching for antler velvet and habitat loss.

Elk and people

Elk have long been important to Native American peoples for food, hides and tools, and they hold a respected place in the traditions of nations such as the Lakota. The Rocky Mountain elk is the state animal of Utah.

Today elk watching is popular in places such as Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Pennsylvania Wilds, where crowds gather in fall to hear the bugles. Elk can become used to people in parks, but they remain wild and strong. Bulls in rut and cows with calves sometimes charge, so wildlife agencies advise keeping at least 25 yards (23 m) away.