Elk Animal Facts | Cervus canadensis

The moose, or wapiti, is one of the largest land animals in North America, Central Asia, and East Asia, where it lives in mountain meadows, forests, and forest edges.

Moose is the second largest wild herbivore, or deer, after elk. Roosevelt’s elk, Tule’s elk, Rocky Mountain elk, and Manitoba elk are four of the six North American subspecies that still exist in the wild, while the eastern Easter and Merriam elk subspecies are extinct.

Moose are popular as game hunting, while their meat is a specialty in some restaurants and shops, and their antlers are used in novel items and in traditional East Asian medicine. Although some herds suffer from infectious diseases, the overall population is increasing and is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

5 incredible facts!

The

• male bugle sound is made of simultaneous roars and whistles, as evidenced by the movement of his lips and nostrils

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• Moose consume an average of 9.1kg (20lbs) of vegetation every day

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• Adult males (bulls) can run up to 40 mph.
• The moose is the unofficial mascot of Estes Park, Colorado, as it is one of the most seen wildlife species there.
• Wapiti (waapiti) is a word meaning “white rump” in Shawnee and Cree.

You can see more amazing facts about moose.

American elk, male (with

These animals are often confused with elk, not only because they look alike but because elk (scientific name Alces alces or Cervus alces) is called “moose” in Eurasia. The scientific name of the elk is Cervus canadensis, with C. c. canadensis being the type species. There are 14 subspecies. Although both are animals of the Cervidae family, moose are in the Cervinae subfamily or Old World deer, while elk is in the Capriolinae (Odocoileinae) or New World deer subfamily.

The word “moose” historically had a meaning like “big deer.” English-speaking people in North America in the 17th century were familiar with the elk’s relative, the red deer (Cervus elaphus) but not the elk, so they gave the name “moose” to Cervus canadensis, also known as “red deer.” Linguistically, the Romanized Old Greek word for Latin Alces (elk) was álkē, which during the Early Middle Ages in the 8th century was called elch, elh and eolh in Old English. Then it became elk, elcke or elke in Middle English or Latinized alke. Asian subspecies of moose are sometimes called maral, although the word is mainly applied to Caspian red deer, a subspecies of red deer (Cervus elaphus maral).

Moose are related to an ancient breed of red deer in Asia, and are still called red deer there. They came to North America through the Bering Strait about 120,000 years ago, as did caribou and other animals. Between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago, they advanced as far as Colorado, and there may have been as many as 10 million moose in North America when European settlement began.

Types

North American moose C. canadensis roosevelti (Roosevelt’s elk)C. canadensis nannodes (Tule’s elk)C. canadensis manitobensis (Manitoban elk)C. canadensis nelsoni (Rocky Mountain elk)C. canadensis canadensis (Eastern elk; extinct for more than a century)

• C.
• canadensis merriami (Merriam Easter elk; extinct for more than a century

)East Asian moose (wapiti)

C. c. sibiricus (Altai wapiti)C. c.

• songaricus (Tian Shan

wapiti)C. c.

• xanthopygus

(Manchurian wapiti)C. c.

• alashanicus (Alashan wapiti

)Central Asian red deer (southern group)C. c. macneilli (Sichuan deer)C. c. kansuensis (Kansu red deer)C. c. wallichii

• (Tibetan red deer)C.
• c. hanglu (Kashmir deer

) Recent DNA studies indicate that there are actually no more than three or four subspecies, with the American forms and even the Siberian elk (C. canadensis sibiricus)

appearing to belong to one subspecies (C. canadensis canadensis). The Chinese subspecies are treated as a distinct species.

All have thick bodies with short tails, small, defined croup patches, and thin legs. They have a shoulder height of 0.75-1.5m (2ft 6in-4ft 11in) with a nose-to-tail length of 1.6-2.7m (5ft 3in-8ft 10in). Males weigh 178-497kg (392-1,096lbs) while females weigh 171-292kg (377-644lbs).

The exception is the larger subspecies, the Roosevelt’s elk, where the largest males can weigh up to 600 kg (1,300 lb) but on average 318–499 kg (701–1,100 lb) with females weighing 261–283 kg (575–624 lb). Tule moose also have a different weight, with males weighing 204-318kg (450-701lbs) and females weighing 170-191kg (375-421lbs). All moose grow thick winter fur during the fall, but only male and female North American moose have thin manes on their necks.

All male animals have antlers that are made of bone and grow 2.5 cm, or about an inch a day. Antlers can grow over 20 inches long! During growth, a layer of velvet covers them. They shed the velvet cover in the spring after the antlers finish developing. Since testosterone drives antler formation, when the testosterone level drops in late winter and early spring, the antlers come off. Some antlers have multiple spikes. North American and Siberian moose have the largest antlers and the Altai wapiti have the smallest, with Roosevelt antlers weighing 18 kg (40 lb).

Males

are called

bulls and female elks are called cows. These animals are some of the most social deer species, with summer group sizes reaching up to 400 individuals. Adult males and females segregate into different herds for most of the year, with female herds being larger and males creating small or solitary groups. Young bulls live in herds of females or with older, less aggressive bulls.

During the mating season, bulls engage in estrus behavior and compete for females they include in harems of 20 or more cows. They try to intimidate rivals with bugles and antler displays, continuing the horn fight. They can also dig wallows or holes in the ground to urinate and roll, giving them a unique smell to attract cows. Bulls also defend their harem from other males and predators and herd them when they stray from the harem.

The vocalization of bulls, called cornet, can reach 4000 Hz. They do this by blowing air from the opening between the vocal cords (the glottis) through the nostrils. They can also create deeper high-pitched sounds of 150 Hz through the larynx.

Moose rub against trees and other objects to shed their winter coats in early summer. Like several species of deer, they migrate to higher altitudes in the spring and retreat in the fall, creating summer and winter ranges. They travel up to 169 miles (270 km) during their longest migration in the continental United States.

It had a much wider habitat range in prehistoric times, which included Europe. The species lives in mountain meadows, forests and forest edges.

There have been moose in New Zealand since 1909 when President Theodore Roosevelt made a gift from a herd of 20 animals that were released in the South Island. Now moose are hunted as a commercial sport, but they are obviously classified as North American elk.

In addition,

moose were introduced to Argentina in the early 1900s, but are now considered an invasive species, competing for food with native

animals.

Diet

As ruminants, these animals have four-chambered stomachs. But while moose and white-tailed deer are primarily scouts, moose are primarily herbivores. They feed in the morning and at night and seek shelter to digest. During the winter, they travel to wooded areas for greater availability of food. Their diets are herbivorous, consuming native grasses year-round, tree bark in winter, and shrubs and leaves and tree shoots in summer. Each day they eat 9.1kg (20lbs) of vegetation on average.

threats

Typical predators of these animals are wolves, coyotes, grizzly bears, North American black bears, Asiatic black bears, cougars and Siberian tigers. Herds of coyotes, brown bears and black bears are the top predators of elk calves, with brown and black bears being the top predators. The slaughter of young cows affects population growth more than that of bulls or calves. Bulls weaken by chasing females and fighting other males in late winter, or when they have lost their antlers, so they are more likely to fall prey to wolves. However, moose can decrease predation by switching to browsing instead of grazing, the main difference being the shift from head-up wooded areas to head-down open areas.

Other threats to these animals are various bacterial infectious diseases and parasites, and some are transmissible to livestock. The main host of the brain worm or meningeal worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis) is the white-tailed deer, which is not affected, but the worm is fatal to moose. Moose can also consume the same parasite through snails and they are intermediate hosts.

Other fatal parasites are liver fluke (Fascioloides magna) and the lungworm Dictyocaulus viviparus. Chronic wasting disease is transmitted by prions (pathogens) and affects your brain tissue. It can be transmitted through the consumption of elk antler velvet, which in humans results in variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

A bacterial disease called brucellosis in the United States only exists in Yellowstone. It can be transmitted to domesticated cattle, bison and horses and cause infertility, miscarriages and decreased milk production. In humans, it results in rippling fever and flu-like symptoms that can persist for years. Gastrointestinal parasites include Eimeria sp. and Ostertagia sp. Another worrisome disease is elk hoof disease, which is related to treponema bacteria and causes hoof deformities that lead to extreme lameness.

For humans, moose are also not only a kind of game hunt, but their antlers are often used in traditional Chinese medicine, with antler velvet used as an aphrodisiac to boost well-being and testosterone for both men and women. Meat is available in some restaurants and grocery stores. It’s higher in protein, lower in fat and cholesterol, and leaner than chicken, pork, and beef, as well as being a good source of zinc, phosphorus, and iron.

Antlers are also used in novelty items such as artwork and furniture, and Asian peoples breed moose for their antlers. North America and New Zealand have many moose farms. Native Americans hunted moose to use their skins to cover teepees, clothing, and footwear.

Bulls make a dozen or more mating attempts during the cows’ short estrus that lasts a day or two. Cows usually produce one, and occasionally two, offspring, which are called calves. Cows breed most often when they weigh at least 200 kg (440 lb).

The gestation period is 240-262 days and calves weigh between 15-16kg at birth. They are born with spots that they lose at the end of summer. Cows are isolated for birth and until the calf can flee from predators. Calves can join the herd after two weeks, and by two months they are fully weaned. Before the age of three, moose leave their birth ranges. Their life expectancy is 10-13 years and sometimes 15 years in the wild and 20 or more years in captivity.

The

population of moose herds in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is approximately 40,000 individuals. There are between 9,000 and 13,000 moose in the Teton herd, migrating south from the southern parts of Yellowstone National Park and west from the Shoshone and Bridger-Teton National Forests to spend their winters in the National Moose Refuge. The population of Cervus canadensis is increasing and is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

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