Cervus elaphus (elk) (2024)

Geographic Range

Elk, or red deer, were once found throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere, from Europe through northern Africa, Asia, and North America. Extensive hunting and habitat destruction have limited elk to a portion of their former range. Elk populations in eastern North America were extirpated largely as a result of overhunting. Today large populations in North America are found only in the western United States from Canada through the Eastern Rockies to New Mexico, and in a small region of the northern lower peninsula of Michigan. Elk were reestablished in the eastern United States, including Michigan, with three transplantations throughout the 1900's. Various elk populations in the western United States, including Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, contributed to the reestablishment. In Eurasia elk populations are now confined to protected areas and less populated regions. Their traditional range extended from 65 degrees N in Norway to 33 degrees N in Africa. Elk have been introduced to Ireland, Argentina, Chile, Australia, and New Zealand.

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native
• palearctic
  • native
• neotropical
  • introduced
• australian
  • introduced

• Other Geographic Terms
• holarctic

Habitat

Elk prefer open woodlands and avoid dense unbroken forests. Elk can be found in coniferous swamps, clear cuts, aspen-hardwood forests, and coniferous-hardwood forests. They are found through a wide range of elevations, typically from sea level to 3000 m, although they can also occur at higher elevations.

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• taiga
• savanna or grassland
• forest
• mountains

• Other Habitat Features
• suburban
• agricultural
• riparian

• Range elevation

  3000 (high) m

  9842.52 (high) ft

Physical Description

Elk range in color from dark brown in winter to tan in summer and have a characteristic buff colored rump. The head, neck, belly, and legs are darker than both the back and sides. Elk generally have a long head with large ears and widely branching antlers as long as 1.1 to 1.5 m from tip to tip are found on males only. A dark shaggy mane hangs from the neck to the chest. With a thick body, short tail and long slender legs, most elk stand approximately 0.75 to 1.5 m high at the shoulder and are 1.6 to 2.7 m from nose to tail. Most males are 10 percent larger than females and may weigh twice as much. Females weigh from 171 to 292 kg, averaging 241 kg. Males weigh from 178 to 497 kg, averaging 331 kg.

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• hom*oiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger
• ornamentation

• Range mass

  67 to 497 kg

  147.58 to 1094.71 lb

• Average mass

  154.2 kg

  339.65 lb

• Range length

  1.6 to 2.7 m

  5.25 to 8.86 ft

• Average basal metabolic rate

  112.43 W

  AnAge

Reproduction

Shortly before the fall rut, in late September and early October, male elk lose the velvet on their antlers and begin to compete for access to females. Dominant males are able to maintain larger harems of females and restrict access to them. They defend a kind of "moving territory" around the harem. Males advertise this territory, their status, and attract females through bugling. Fights between dominant males and intruders can be intense and result in injury, exhaustion, or death. Harems are usually made up of 1 bull and 6 females with their yearling calves and are seasonal.

• Mating System
• polygynous

Both males and females are sexually mature at sixteen months, although young males do not usually mate until they are a few year old and can compete with more mature males. Gestation generally lasts between 240 and 262 days and results in a single birth (twins are rare). This low annual production is offset by a high investment in protective maternal care. At birth, calves weigh around 15 to 16 kg and have creamy spots on their back and sides. Their hooves are soft. Just after birth, a cow and her calf will live alone for several weeks. At 16 days the calf is able to join the herd, and weaning is completed within 60 days.

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  Breeding occurs each year when nutrition is adequate.

• Breeding season

  Breeding occurs in late September or early October.

• Range number of offspring

  2 (high)

• Average number of offspring

  1

• Average number of offspring

  1

  AnAge

• Range gestation period

  8 to 8.73 months

• Average weaning age

  2 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  16 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
  Sex: female

  852 days

  AnAge

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  16 (low) months

Female elk protect their calves by hiding them in a secluded area during their first few weeks of life. They nurse and protect their young through their first year of life. Male elk do not contribute to the care of their young.

• Parental Investment
• precocial
• pre-fertilization
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • protecting
    • female

Lifespan/Longevity

Longevity in elk is difficult to assess because most populations are affected by hunting pressures. Elk can live beyond 20 years.

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  20+ years

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  26.8 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  20.0 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  24.7 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Behavior

Elk are social animals; they live in summer herds with as many as 400 individuals. These herds are matriarchal and are dominated by a single cow. Seasonal migrations occur elevationally, with elk being found at higher elevations during summer, and migrating to lower elevations during winter. As the fall mating season approachs, bulls form harems, which they defend with their large size and aggressive nature. In spring, the sexes separate; females leave to give birth, while bulls form their own separate summer herds. After birth, cows and their calves form nursery groups until calves are ready to join the herd. Bulls are only territorial during the mating season and are otherwise not aggressive toward other elk.

Elk browse in the early morning and late evening . They are inactive during the day and the middle of the night, when they spend most of their time chewing their cud.

Elk have a close association with white-tailed deer, sharing similar environments and similar habitats.

• Key Behaviors
• cursorial
• terricolous
• crepuscular
• motile
• migratory
• territorial
• social

Home Range

Elk have a home range of approximately 600 square miles.

Communication and Perception

Elk have keen senses of smell, hearing, and vision. They communicate with other elk using all of these senses, as well as touch. Elk are known as the noisiest of all cervids. Newborns bleat and squeal, females bark, grunt and squeal, and males are known for their characteristic low pitched bellow or roar, known as bugling. Bugling is used to attract mates and advertise territories during the fall rutting season and can be heard for long distances.

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Elk are browsers feeding on grasses, sedges, and forbs in summer and woody growth (cedar, wintergreen, eastern hemlock, sumac, jack pine, red maple, staghorn, and basswood) in the winter months. Favorites of the elk include dandelions, aster, hawkweed, violets, clover, and the occasional mushroom. Elk are ruminant animals and therefore regurgitate their food and remasticate to aid in digestion. This is also known as chewing cud.

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • folivore
  • lignivore

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• roots and tubers
• wood, bark, or stems
• bryophytes
• lichens

• Other Foods
• fungus

Predation

Predators of elk include mountain lions, gray wolves, and bears. Calves may fall victim to bobcats and coyotes. Healthy adults are rarely preyed on. Elk protect themselves from predators through their herding behavior and large size. They may also use their antlers (males) and sharp hooves to protect themselves.

• Known Predators

  • grizzly bears (Ursus arctos)
  • gray wolves (Canis lupus)
  • American black bears (Ursus americanus)
  • coyotes (Canis latrans)
  • mountain lions (Puma concolor)
  • bobcats (Lynx rufus)

Ecosystem Roles

Elk are important in shaping the plant communities in which they live through their browsing. They also serve as an important source of prey during parts of the year for large predators, such as brown bears.

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Elk were originally valued by the early settlers and Native Americans as food and for their fur, teeth, hides, and antlers. Today elk are economically valuable for tourism, hunting, and for their meat and other products.

• Positive Impacts
• food
• body parts are source of valuable material
• ecotourism

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

Elk are considered pests by many farmers. Overbrowsing can cause damage to valued trees and agricultural crops. Elk may also be implicated in the spread of some diseases to livestock, such as bovine tuberculosis and meningeal worms.

• Negative Impacts
• crop pest
• causes or carries domestic animal disease

Conservation Status

Elk have no special conservation status, but excessive hunting and habitat modification have lead to declines in their natural distribution and abundance. Most populations of Cervus elaphus were nearly extirpated in the 19th century. They were extirpated from New York by 1847, Pennsylvania by 1867, Ohio by 1838, and Indiana by 1830. The eastern subspecies Cervus elaphus canadensis is now extinct. Recently, conservation measures by private citizens and Departments of Natural Resources have led to large increases in elk populations, putting C. elaphus out of danger. Elk are generally subject to limited, legal sport hunting and are farmed for meat in some western states.

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Other Comments

In the western United States elk can carry and contract chronic wasting disease, a spongiform encephalopathy similar to bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Contributors

Tanya Dewey (editor), Animal Diversity Web.

Rachel Lesley Senseman (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Glossary

References

Baker, R. H. 1983. Michigan Mammals. Michigan State University Press. East Lansing, MI. 566-577.

Kurta, A. 1995. Mammals of the Great Lakes Region. University of Michigan Press. Ann Arbor, MI. 261-264.

Nowak, R.M. and J.L. Paradiso. 1991. Walker's Mammals of the World. The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD. 1207-1212.