Elk

The elk, or wapiti (Cervus canadensis), ranks as the second-largest deer species and is among the biggest land mammals found naturally in North America, Central Asia, and East Asia. Its alternative name, wapiti, comes from Shawnee and Cree terms for "white rump," a nod to the pale fur around its tail that the animal can raise or fluff up to signal distress, alarm, or during male courtship and dominance contests. This trait appears in varying degrees in other even-toed ungulates like bighorn sheep, pronghorn, and white-tailed deer.

These animals prefer open forests and edges where they graze on grasses and sedges while also browsing leaves, twigs, bark, and higher-growing plants. Males grow large antlers filled with blood and nerves, shedding them each year as temperatures rise. During the breeding season, males perform ritualized behaviors: posturing to attract females, sparring by wrestling antlers, and bugling—a loud mix of whistles, bellows, screams, and other calls used to assert dominance over rivals and lure mates.

For a long time, elk were thought to be a subspecies of the European red deer (Cervus elaphus), but mitochondrial DNA studies starting in 1998 confirmed they are separate species. Key physical differences include the elk’s wider rump patch and paler antlers. While now native only to North America, Central Asia, East Asia, and North Asia, elk once ranged more widely; prehistoric populations lived across Eurasia and into Western Europe during the Late Pleistocene, surviving into the early Holocene in southern Sweden and the Alps. The extinct Merriam’s elk (Cervus canadensis merriami) once reached as far south as Mexico. Introduced populations have thrived in places like Argentina and New Zealand, sometimes so successfully that they threaten local ecosystems and species.

As members of the Artiodactyla order and distant relatives of bovids, elk can catch several infectious diseases that may spread to or from livestock. Vaccination efforts to control these diseases have had mixed results. Some cultures hold elk as spiritually significant. In parts of Asia, antlers and velvet are used in traditional medicine, and ground antler and velvet supplements are a growing naturopathic industry in countries including the United States, China, and Canada. Elk are hunted as game, and their meat is leaner and higher in protein than beef or chicken.

The word "elk" originally referred to the European moose (Alces alces) but was transferred to Cervus canadensis by North American colonists. By the 17th century, moose had long been extinct in the British Isles, so "elk" became a vague term for "large deer." The name "wapiti" comes from Shawnee and Cree waapiti (ᐙᐱᑎ or ᐚᐱᑎ), meaning "white rump." A Mongolian subspecies, the Altai wapiti (Cervus canadensis sibiricus), is also called the Altai maral. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the etymology of "elk" is "of obscure history." In Classical Antiquity, the European moose was known as Greek álkē and Latin alces, likely borrowed from a Germanic or northern European language. By the 8th century, Old English had elch, elh, eolh from Proto-Germanic *elho-, *elhon-, possibly linked to Old Norse elgr. Middle English used elk, elcke, or elke, with the Latinized form alke and spelling alce from Latin alces. The OED notes that "elk" is not the normal phonetic descendant of Old English elch and instead derives it from Middle High German elch, from Old High German elaho.

Early European colonists in North America recognized Cervus canadensis as a relative of the European red deer and called it "red deer." Richard Hakluyt’s 1584 Discourse Concerning Western Planting described North America as "full of many beastes, as redd dere." John Smith’s 1616 A Description of New England also used "red deer." Sir William Talbot’s 1672 translation of John Lederer’s Latin Discoveries called the species "red deer" but noted in parentheses that ignorant people improperly termed them "Elks" due to their unusual size. Thomas Jefferson’s 1785 Notes on the State of Virginia and David Bailie Warden’s 1816 Statistical, Political, and Historical Account of the United States both used "red deer" for Cervus canadensis.

Members of the genus Cervus, including early relatives or possible ancestors of the elk, first appear in the fossil record 25 million years ago during the Oligocene in Eurasia, but not in North America until the early Miocene. The extinct Irish elk (Megaloceros) was not a member of Cervus but was the largest deer species known from fossils. Until recently, red deer and elk were considered one species, Cervus elaphus, with over a dozen subspecies, but mitochondrial DNA studies have since separated them.