Types of elk

Of the six subspecies of elk known to have inhabited North America in historical times, four remain, including the Roosevelt (C. canadensis roosevelti), Tule (C. canadensis nannodes), Manitoban (C. canadensis manitobensis) and Rocky Mountain (C. canadensis nelsoni). The Eastern elk (C. canadensis canadensis) and Merriam's elk (C. canadensis merriami) subspecies have been extinct for at least a century.

The Eastern elk was extinct in the United States prior to the Civil War. While these large mammals were once plentiful throughout the Appalachian Mountains and into Canada, they have not been seen in North America since the 1800s. The Eastern elk was very similar to other type of elk commonly found in the United States.

The Manitoban elk (Cervus canadensis manitobensis) is a subspecies of elk found in the Midwestern United States (specifically North Dakota) and the southern regions of Canada's prairie provinces (specifically Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and north-central Alberta).

The Merriam's elk (Cervus canadensis merriami) is an extinct subspecies of elk once found in the arid lands of the southwestern United States, predominantly Arizona.Since the arrival of the Europeans uncontrolled hunting and cattle grazing had driven the subspecies into extinction around the beginning of the 20th century, with the exact ...

The Roosevelt elk (Cervus canadensis roosevelti), also known as Olympic elk, is the largest of the four surviving subspecies of elk in North America. They live in the rain forests of the Pacific Northwest and were introduced to Kodiak, Alaska's Afognak and Raspberry Islands in 1928.

The tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes) is a subspecies of elk found only in California, ranging from the grasslands and marshlands of the Central Valley to the grassy hills on the coast. The subspecies name derives from the tule, a species of sedge native to freshwater marshes on which the Tule elk feeds. When the Europeans first arrived, an estimated 500,000 tule elk roamed these regions ...