Fights between dominant males and intruders can be intense and result in injury, exhaustion, or death.īoth males and females are sexually mature at sixteen months, although young males do not usually mate until they are a few year old and can compete with more mature males. Males advertise this territory, and their status, through bugling. They defend a kind of "moving territory" around the harem. Larger and more dominant males are able to maintain larger harems of females and restrict access to them. Dominant males form "harems", small groups of female deer that they will mate with. Shortly before the fall rut (breeding season), in late September and early October, male elk lose the velvet on their antlers and begin to compete for access to females. These animals are found in the following types of habitat. They are found through a wide range of elevations, typically from sea level to 3000 m, although they can also occur at higher elevations. Elk can be found in coniferous swamps, clear cuts, aspen-hardwood forests, and coniferous-hardwood forests. Elk have been introduced to Ireland, Argentina, Chile, Australia, and New Zealand.Įlk prefer open woodlands and avoid dense unbroken forests. Their traditional range extended from 65 degrees N in Norway to 33 degrees N in Africa. In Eurasia elk populations are now confined to protected areas and less populated regions. Various elk populations in the western United States, including Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, contributed to the reestablishment. Elk were reestablished in the eastern United States, including Michigan, with three transplantations throughout the 1900's. Today large populations in North America are found only in the western United States from Canada through the Eastern Rockies to New Mexico, and in a small region of the northern lower peninsula of Michigan. Elk populations in eastern North America were extirpated largely as a result of overhunting. Extensive hunting and habitat destruction have limited elk to a portion of their former range.
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