|
There are few things that speak for Colorado's wild Rocky Mountains more than the sound of an elk bugling in the cold crisp fall mountain air. Elk, also called wapiti, are truly amazing animals that are well adapted to living in the rugged Rocky Mountians. Elk are one of the largest members of the deer family. They may get 5 to 6 feet tall at the shoulders, 7 to 9 feet long, and male bull elk may weigh up to 1000 pounds. They have strong hooves and can quickly climb the steep mountains. Elk can run really fast, up to 35 miles per hour. If you have ever hiked high in the mountains, you will gain greater appreciation for their speed when you are slowly making your way up in the thin mountain air.
Elk are social animals and live in herds. The herd is usually dominated by one strong male elk, called a bull, with lots of female elk, called cows. In the fall, bull elk use their incredibly large antlers to fight other bull elk for females. Bull elk will make loud bugling and grunting sounds that will carry for many miles away. The elk calls say, "I am here to the other bull elk and cow elk, and I am strong and ready for a challenge." Once the rut or fall mating season is over, elk will move down to the montane and foothills life zones to avoid the deep mountain snow. In spring time, the elk return to the high subalpine and alpine life zones.
What's the difference between an antler and a horn? Bighorn sheep have horns and they keep them their entire life; each year the horns may grow slightly bigger and more curled. Elk have antlers. Each year the elk will lose their antlers in the spring and grow a new set of antlers. There is a fuzzy velvet on the outside of the new antlers that help them grow. In the summer the velvet dies and the antlers become hard and strong. Elk will keep their antlers over winter and shed them in the spring again. So horns stay on the animal for their entire life and antlers are shed and grown new each year.
Thankfully, elk have made an amazing comeback in Colorado. Elk used to roam in large numbers across the land before settlers came from the eastern United States. Elk even lived on the eastern plains. Settlers started hunting and killing elk and other big game animals in large numbers for their meat, fur, antlers, and sport of hunting. When gold, silver, and other minerals were discovered high in the mountains, thousands of people became miners and created mountain boom towns. They needed a large supply of meat to feed the new miners and would often kill most every living creature around the mining towns, including elk, deer, bighorn sheep and other animals. By the early 1900's, the elk population, along with many other big game animals in the state of Colorado, was in danger of becoming extinct. Thanks to conservation minded people, a small population of elk was taken from Yellowstone National Park and added to the small herds that still lived in Colorado. Over time and with strong hunting regulations, the elk population has come back and are now at healthy numbers in the state.
Sources of information and to find more information: CO p of Wildlife , Bear Country U.S.A.
|