elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis), also called wapiti, the largest and most advanced subspecies of red deer (Cervus elaphus), found in North America and in high mountains of Central Asia. It is a member of the deer family, Cervidae (order Artiodactyla). Recent genetic studies suggest that the “red deer” may be three species: the European red deer, the Tibetan–West Chinese red deer, and the elk.
The word elk is derived from the ancient Germanic root word meaning “stag” or “hart.” In Europe, elk is the common name for the moose. In 16th-century Virginia the name was applied by English settlers to the native subspecies of the red deer, and that name also came into popular use in New England. An alternate name, wapiti (“white deer” in Shawnee), comes from the light-coloured coat of the bull elk. Although less ambiguous than elk, wapiti never became popular, and in North America today elk is the firmly established proper name. In Asia the elk, along with the red deer of Persia, is called by the Mongolian name maral.
Exceeded in size only by the moose, large male elk from Alberta average 380 kg (840 pounds) in early winter. Body mass varies considerably within and between populations and increases from south to north. Exceptional bulls exceed 500 kg (1,100 pounds) in weight; bulls from southern California average about 110 kg (240 pounds). Compared with other red deer, female elk are more similar to bulls in external appearance and body mass. During winter all elk have well-developed, dark neck manes that contrast sharply with their tan or light brown body colour.
Elk are classic red deer in their biology. However, they are more highly adapted to life in open plains, to grazing, and to cold, long winters. They evolved as fast endurance runners that are very difficult to catch even with the best of horses, particularly in broken terrain. Nevertheless, they get their chief protection from predators by forming large groups.
Compared with European red deer, elk have longer gestation periods (255 days, versus 235 days in the European red deer), and the bulls retain their antlers longer (about 185 days, versus 150 or less in European red deer). In Asia elk are confined to cold grasslands found on the high plateaus of Outer Mongolia, southern Siberia, and the Altai and Tien Shan mountains, while more primitive red deer subspecies occupy the valley bottoms and upland forests. In North America, free of competing red deer, elk are found in diverse habitats from the Yukon to northern Mexico and from Vancouver Island to Pennsylvania. They thrive in coniferous rain forests along the Pacific coast, prairies, aspen parklands, sagebrush flats, eastern deciduous forests, the Rocky Mountains, and the once swampy valleys of California. Elk shun deserts, boreal forests, and tundra. Due to their wide distribution, elk from different regions in North America can differ considerably in size and antler growth. However, elk are remarkably homogeneous genetically throughout their range, even in their Asian populations.
While North American elk are uniform in coat markings and voice and thus cannot be differentiated by these features from some of their Asian counterparts, they are quite different from other subspecies of Asian elk, such as the Manchurian red deer (Cervus elaphus xanthopygos) and the small Alashan wapiti (C. elaphus alashanicus) of Inner Mongolia. These primitive elk have smaller bodies and antlers, less striking coat patterns, and a deeper voice than the North American elk. However, all male elk, American and Asian, have a high-pitched bugling call used during the rut. This call is a vocal adaptation designed to carry sound across long distances in open landscapes. On rare occasions, females bugle.
Elk are part of the old Siberian Ice Age fauna that crossed the Bering land bridge into Alaska. There they appeared along with caribou over one million years ago, but they were unable to establish themselves in the southern half of the continent, because of the presence of the native large fauna. Elk entered lower North America from Alaska, along with the grizzly bear, moose, and humans, only after the glaciers had retreated and most of America’s old megafauna was extinct. Elk then spread into some of the empty ecological niches, and about 12,000 years ago their southward spread was halted by deserts.
The archaeological record suggests that elk became very abundant after European diseases decimated Native American populations in the 16th century, thus greatly reducing human predation. Elk were valued by native peoples more for their hide and ceremonial value than for their meat. Although they were nearly exterminated by market hunting in the 19th century, elk have been widely reintroduced throughout North America and are now thriving.
Elk were introduced into New Zealand in 1909 in Fiordland, but they have been outcompeted by European red deer. Unlike the latter, the elk did not disperse, choosing to occupy higher elevations. They have also been introduced to Europe in the vain hope of creating larger antlered red deer. Although this effort failed and the elk went extinct, a parasite they brought along, the giant liver fluke (Fascioloides magna), has established itself in European deer and livestock.
Elk have been traditionally used on Asian deer farms dedicated to the production of velvet antlers, and this practice has spread globally. (Growing antlers are covered in a blood-engorged skin called velvet.) The velvet antlers are cut off bulls’ heads and are ultimately processed into folk medicines.