The Elk are back

The other day I decided to take the Kabota and feed the cows. These beautiful animals were grazing up on the hill so I turned off the Kabota and just watched them for a while. The day was warm and the meadowlarks were singing. Total heaven. When they finally noticed me, they jumped the fence and ran off. If you will notice, the elk on the left only has one antler. They lose their antlers each fall/winter and grow new ones.

From Wikipedia:
The elk is a large animal of the artiodactyle ungulate order, possessing an even number of toes on each foot, similar to those of camels, goats and cattle. It is a ruminant species, with a four-chambered stomach, and feeds on grasses, plants, leaves and bark. During the summer, elk eat almost constantly, consuming between 8.8 and 15 lb daily. In North America, males are called bulls, and females are called cows. In Asia, stag and hind, respectively, are sometimes used instead.

Elk are more than twice as heavy as mule deer and have a more reddish hue to their hair coloring, as well as large, buff colored rump patches and smaller tails. Elk gather in herds. Elk cows average 500 lb, stand 4.3 ft at the shoulder, and are 6.6 ft from nose to tail. Bulls are some 40% larger than cows at maturity, weighing an average of 710 lb, standing 4.9 ft at the shoulder and averaging 8.2 ft in length. The largest of the subspecies is the Roosevelt elk, found west of the Cascade Range in the U.S. states of California, Oregon and Washington, and in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

Only the males have antlers, which start growing in the spring and are shed each winter. The largest antlers may be 3.9 ft long and weigh 40 lb. Antlers are made of bone which can grow at a rate of almost an inch per day. While actively growing, the antlers are covered with and protected by a soft layer of highly vascularised skin known as velvet. The velvet is shed in the summer when the antlers have fully developed. Bull elk may have eight or more tines on each antler; however, the number of tines has little to do with the age or maturity of a particular animal. The formation and retention of antlers is testosterone-driven. After the breeding season in late fall, the level of pheromones released during estrus declines in the environment and the testosterone levels of males drop as a consequence. This drop in testosterone leads to the shedding of antlers, usually in the early winter.

During the fall, elk grow a thicker coat of hair, which helps to insulate them during the winter. Males, females and calves all grow thin neck manes. By early summer, the heavy winter coat has been shed, and elk are known to rub against trees and other objects to help remove hair from their bodies. All elk have small and clearly defined rump patches with short tails. They have different coloration based on the seasons and types of habitats, with gray or lighter coloration prevalent in the winter and a more reddish, darker coat in the summer. Subspecies living in arid climates tend to have lighter colored coats than do those living in forests. Most have lighter yellow-brown to orange-brown coats in contrast to dark brown hair on the head, neck, and legs during the summer.


"Be able to be alone. Lose not the advantage of solitude, and the society of thyself."
Thomas Browne