ln his book The Elk, naturalist John Madson wrote "...elk were probably the most widespread of all American hoofed species, thriving from central California to the Atlantic savannas; from Mexico into Canada." - "There are few stories of blood lust more disgusting than that detailing the slaughter of the great Elk bands," Ernest Thompson Seton wrote in his book Lives of Game Animals, published in 1909. Early settlers reported that eastern Elk had little fear of humans and would graze in areas that they always had, allowing them to become easy targets and for overhunting to lead to their extinction. Eastern Elk were larger than its western relatives and a full-grown bull could weigh as much as 1,000 pounds, standing 50-60 inches tall at the shoulder, and boast a rack of antlers six feet in length. Two of the six subspecies of Elk were hunted into extinction.
Today, Rocky Mountain Elk (Cervus canadensis) are the most well known of the remaining subspecies and have been reintroduced into parts of the East including Kentucky, Missouri, West Virginia, and Tennessee. Elk are able to graze in a variety of habitats including grasslands, wetlands, shrublands, and forests in various stages of succession. They have a diet similar to Bison and primarily eat grasses and forbs. Elk have four-chamber stomachs in order to digest grasses enough to obtain nutrients. They often visit salt licks to supplement their diet with minerals needed for milk production and to grow thick coats. Unlike White-tailed Deer whom consume primarily young trees, shrubs, and wildflowers; Elk only resort to eating twigs in winter when other food sources are not plentiful.
Elk are social animals and gather in herds throughout the year. The size of the herds vary based on season, with the largest often occurring in late winter and early spring when large herds composed of cows, calves, and bulls congregate on winter rangelands. In spring, migratory elk herds tend to disperse as they reach various elevations and different habitats. There is evidence that elk often form larger groups in open habitats than in closed-canopy forests, possibly as a strategy to avoid predators. One study from Montana found elk herds in open areas to be 7.2 individuals on average, whereas closed, forested areas contained herds of 2.5 individuals on average. Elk usually return to ranges used the previous year and have a strong tendency to follow the same migration routes each year, often using the same routes for both spring and fall migrations.
Throughout the eastern half of the U.S. our ecosystems lack large wild - grass grazing animals. With free roaming bison in the East being an unlikely reality, the reintroduction of free roaming elk can restore some balance between grasses and wildflowers within grasslands, wetlands, savannas, and woodland ecosystems. Their grazing of grasses and sedges creates open niches in the herbaceous layer where shorter lived native plants and more wildflower abundance in general, can establish; diversifying these ecosystems. Of course though, with the reintroduction of a dominant grazer - must come hunting controls or the less likely scenario of Wolf reintroduction with Elk.
The previous range of the extinct Eastern Elk. The year of their disappearance is shown in each state.
Naturalist John James Audubon reportedly mentioned that by 1851 a few elk could still be found in the Allegheny Mountains but that they were virtually gone from the remainder of their range. This is his 1845 lithograph of the extinct Eastern Elk. |
