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Elk Facts

During the ice age, there were ten subspecies of the (cervus) in North America, now there is only four.

The ROCKY MOUNTAIN ELK (Cervus elaphus nelsoni), ROOSEVELT ELK (C.e. roosevlti), MANITOBA ELK (C.e. manitoberis), and the TULE ELK (Ce. nanrodes).

The Rocky Mountain Elk has been transplanted to Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, The Dakota's and parts of Eastern Canada.

Antlers can weigh up to 40 pounds for the pair.

Average sizes of elk are 700 pounds for a mature bull elk, 500 pounds for a cow and 35 pounds for a newborn calf.

An elk must eat about three pounds of food per day for every 100 pounds it weighs. That's 15 pounds of plants for a cow elk and 21 pounds for a bull elk!

Elk life expectancy is approximately 18-22 years

The reduced daylight of winter diminishes testosterone production and causes the shedding of antlers, while the increasing daylight of the early months of the year increases the production of testosterone and stimulates the new growth of antlers.

The dominant bulls are usually 5-12 years old.

On rare occasions cows may produce antlers which usually occurs because of a hormone imbalance.