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Facts about Elk

Elk

In 2002, South Korea banned the importation of elk antler velvet due to concerns about chronic wasting disease (Hansen 2006).

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After elk were reintroduced in the states of Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee, they migrated into the neighboring states of Virginia and West Virginia, and have established permanent populations there (Ledford 2005).

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Modern subspecies are considered to have descended from elk that once inhabited Beringia, a steppe region between Asia and North America that connected the two continents during the Pleistocene.

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At birth, Lakota males were given an elk's tooth to promote a long life since that was seen as the last part of dead elk to rot away.

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The elk is a large ungulate animal of the Artiodactyla order (even-toed ungulates), possessing an even number of toes on each foot, similar to those of camels, goats, and cattle.

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Elks have traditionally been hunted for food, sport, and their hides.

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All elk have large and clearly defined rump patches with short tails.

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Outside their native habitat, elk and other deer species were introduced in areas that previously had few if any large native ungulates.

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Elk are more than twice as heavy as mule deer and have a more reddish hue to their hair coloring, as well as large, buff colored rump patches and smaller tails.

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The habitat of Siberian elk in Asia is similar to that of the Rocky Mountain subspecies in North America.

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The elk is also referred to as the maral in Asia, though this is due to confusion with the central Asian red deer, which is a very similar species.

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During the summer, elk eat almost constantly, consuming between 4.5 and 6.8 kilograms (10 to 15 pounds) daily (RMEF 2007c).

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The extinct Irish Elk (Megaloceros) was not a member of the genus Cervus, but rather the largest member of the wider deer family (Cervidae) known from the fossil record (Gould 1977).

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Aside from man, wolf and coyote packs and the solitary cougar are the most likely predators, although brown, grizzly, and black bears also prey on elk (Thomas and Toweill 2002).

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Roosevelt elk are generally non-migratory due to less seasonal variability of food sources (Thomas and Toweill 2002).

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Only the males elk have antlers, which start growing in the spring and are shed each winter.

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Brainworm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis) is a parasitic nematode that has been known to affect the spinal cord and brain tissue of elk, leading to death.

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Roosevelt elk have been reintroduced into Alaska, where males have been recorded as weighing up to 590 kilograms (1,300 pounds (Eide 1994).

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Prior to the European colonization of North America, there were an estimated 10 million elk on the continent (RMEF 2007a).

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By early summer, the heavy winter coat has been shed, and elk are known to rub against trees and other objects to help remove hair from their bodies.

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Adult elk usually stay in single-sex groups for most of the year.

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Until recently, elk and red deer were considered the same species, however DNA research has indicated that they are different.

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Hunting is a major component of Michigan's economy.

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Female elk have a short estrus cycle of only a day or two and matings usually involve a dozen or more attempts.

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Elk have also been reintroduced to a number of other states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

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The lampreys (Petromyzontiformes) are placed in Agnatha, as well as several extinct orders of jawless vertebrates.

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Elk that have contracted the disease begin to show weight loss, increased watering needs, disorientation and listlessness, and at an advanced stage the disease leads to death.

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Brucellosis occasionally affect elk in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the only place in the U.S. where the disease is still known to exist.

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Five subspecies found in Asia include the Altai (C. canadensis sibiricus), the Tianshan (C. canadensis songaricus), and the Asian wapitis (C. canadensis asiaticus), also known as the Siberian elk.

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Nonetheless, it is carried by snails, which can be inadvertently consumed by elk during grazing (Fergus 2007).

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Elk cows average 225 kilograms (500 pounds), stand 1.3 meters (4-1/2 feet) at the shoulder, and are 2 meters (6-1/2 feet) from nose to tail.

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Geist maintains the Manchurian and Alashan wapiti but places all other elk into C. canadensis canadensis (Geist 1993).

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More recent Native American tribes, including the Kootenai, Cree, Ojibwa, and Pawnee, produced blankets and robes from elk hides.

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Pictograms and petroglyphs of elk were carved into cliffs thousands of years ago by the Anasazi of the southwestern United States.

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The highly adaptable elk also inhabit semi-deserts in North America, such as the Great Basin.

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The Rocky Mountain elk subspecies has been reintroduced by hunter-conservation organizations in the Appalachian region of the eastern United States, where the now extinct Eastern elk once lived (Fitzgerald 2007).

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The elk or wapiti (Cervus canadensis) is the second largest species of deer in the world, after the moose (Alces alces), which is, confusingly, often also called elk in Europe.

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Elk meat has a taste somewhere between beef and venison and is higher in protein and lower in fat than either beef or chicken (Wapiti.net 2007).

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The name elk is from the German word for moose, which is elch (PEH 2007).

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Valerius Geist, who has written on the world's various deer species, holds that there are only three subspecies of elk.

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Both elk and red deer have also been introduced to Ireland and Australia (Corbet and Harris 1996).

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During the fall, elk grow a thicker coat of hair, which helps to insulate them during the winter.

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The introduction of deer to New Zealand began in the middle of the nineteenth century, and current populations are primarily European red deer, with only 15 percent being elk (DF 2003).

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Elk calves weigh as much as an adult white-tailed deer by the time they are six months old (WERP 2007).

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Male elk retain their antlers for more than half the year and are less likely to group with other males when they have antlers.

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Elk farms are relatively common in North America and New Zealand.

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The largest of the subspecies is the Roosevelt elk, found west of the Cascade Range in the U.S. states of California, Oregon, and Washington, and in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

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Elk have played an important role in the cultural history of a number of peoples.

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Elk have long, branching antlers and are one of the largest mammals in North America and eastern Asia.

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Bull elk may have six or more tines on each antler, however the number of tines has little to do with the age or maturity of a particular animal.

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Elk is a ruminant species, with a four-chambered stomach, and feeds on plants, grasses, leaves, and bark.

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Many of the elk that reside in the northern sections of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem migrate to lower altitudes in Montana, mainly to the north and west.

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Neolithic petroglyphs from Asia depict antler-less female elk, which have been interpreted as symbolizing rebirth and sustenance.

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The extinct Irish Elk (Megaloceros) was not a member of the genus Cervus, but rather the largest member of the wider deer family (Cervidae) known from the fossil record (Gould 1977).

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Worldwide population of elk, counting those on farms and in the wild, is approximately 2 million.

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Until 2004, red deer and elk were considered to be one species, Cervus elaphus, based on fertile hybrids that have been produced in captivity.

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Chronic Wasting Disease affects the brain tissue in elk and has been detected throughout their range in North America.

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A male elk can produce 10 to 11 kilograms (22 to 25 pounds) of antler velvet annually.

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The Eastern elk (C. canadensis canadensis) and Merriam's elk (C. canadensis merriami) subspecies have been extinct for at least a century (Gerhart 2007; Allen 2007).

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Elk live 20 years or more in captivity but average 10 to 13 years in the wild.

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The Siberian and North American elk carry the largest antlers while the Altai wapiti have the smallest (Geist 1998).

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The elk was of particular importance to the Lakota and played a spiritual role in their society (RMEF 2007e).

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Elk are hunted as a game species; the meat is leaner and higher in protein than beef or chicken (Robb and Bethge 2001).

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Elk are held in captivity for a variety of reasons.

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Males, females and calves of Siberian and North American elk all grow thick neck manes; female and young Manchurian and Alashan wapitis do not (Geist 1993).

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By the beginning of the Bronze Age, the elk is depicted less frequently in rock art, coinciding with a cultural transformation away from hunting (Jacobson 1993).

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Modern uses are more decorative, but elk skin shoes, gloves, and belts are sometimes produced.

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Some cultures revere the elk as a spiritual force.

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Elk meat is also a good source of iron, phosphorus, and zinc, but is high in cholesterol (ND 2007).

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Elk

A male elk can produce 10 to 11 kilograms (22 to 25 pounds) of antler velvet annually.

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Moose are larger and darker than elk, the bulls have distinctively different antlers, and moose do not herd.

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Five subspecies found in Asia include the Altai (C. canadensis sibiricus), the Tianshan (C. canadensis songaricus), and the Asian wapitis (C. canadensis asiaticus), also known as the Siberian elk.

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