Animal Tracks » Elk
Elk
If you guessed the tracks of an Elk you were right!
Elk are also known as "Wapiti" which is an American Indian name meaning "white deer". Males are known as bulls and females are known as cows. Elk are in the deer family but are much larger. They are the largest member of the deer family besides the Moose. In fact, full-grown Elk bulls can weigh well over 1000 pounds. Elk cows can range between 400 - 800 pounds. Despite their immense size, Elk are fleet-footed, graceful and are terrific swimmers. Elk can reach land speeds of over 30mph!
Elk are generally passive animals and although human attacks are rare, they do occur. An attack is generally spurred by someone getting too close to an Elk during the rutting season. The "rutting season" is when male Elk enter the herd to mate with females. This "rutting" period generally occurs between August - November and if you listen close, you can hear the high-pitched "whistling" or "bugling" of male Elk calling to their female counterparts. Elk are polygamous and can mate with as many as 50 cows in a season.
Elk have huge antlers. For most of the year, an Elk's giant antlers are encased in a velvet skin nourished with blood and nutrients. As they finish growing, and when the rutting season hits, they will rub their antlers into the dirt and against trees in order to remove the velvet skins which reveal the boney antler racks beneath.
Elk tracks average over 4" in length and 3" in width. Although difficult to distinguish from deer tracks, Elk tracks are longer and wider than those of a common deer which is one way to tell the difference. An Elk's scat consists of a pile of round brownish pellets and will also tend to be much bigger than that of a deer. Another easy way to spot an Elk from a deer is to look for its whitish or yellowish colored rear-end. In general, Elk are much bigger than deer, and size alone is a good indicator of which animal you are viewing.
Click here to here an Elk bugle.
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Fact: When Elk were first discovered by early English settlers, they believed they were Moose. So they called them
