Also known by the Shawnee people’s tribal name of Wapiti. Male elk only have antlers in summer and shed them in autumn. In spring new antlers grow at a rate of 2.5 cm per day. The antlers are covered with “velvet,” a soft layer of skin that sheds over summer.
Males lock antlers in battle with other males both to build strength and to win the attention of females. They also use their high-pitched roar, called bugling, to attract mates during their breeding seasons.
They are mainly grazers but also browse on trees, which helps control tree numbers ensuring forests are not too dense. Naturally wolves play a vital role in ensuring elk numbers do not increase to the point that sees forests destroyed by browsing pressure. The elk and wolf relationship impacts all their habitat and species such as birds and beavers that rely on the habitat as well.
Calves are born with almost no scent to avoid attracting predators and have white spots that help with camouflage.
Quick Facts
Diet
Simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever
Colour
Vary from beige , tan, cream to black
Weight
10-15kgs
Lifespan
7-10 in the wild but up to 16 in captivity
Predators
Humans, crocodiles, birds of prey take pups.
Conservation Status
Endangered
Distribution
psum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever
Habitat
psum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever
Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged.