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Red Deer (Cervus elaphus), known as Elk in North America, are the second largest species of deer in the world, after Alces alces (the moose or, in Europe, elk). The Red Deer is the most widely distributed of deer species, inhabiting all of northern Europe and Asia, as well as North America and the Atlas Mountains region of northwestern Africa, being the only species of deer to inhabit Africa. Red Deer have been imported to other areas including New Zealand and Argentina, and in many parts of the world, the meat from the Red Deer is widely used as a food source.
Red Deer are ruminants which are characterized by an even number of toes, and a four chambered stomach. For many years, the North American subspecies was believed to be a distinct species due to easily observed differences in coloring, size and behavior, but the fact that Eurasian Red Deer and North American Elk produce fertile offspring contradicted that speculation. Recent DNA studies suggest that two species may exist, in fact. The ancestors of all Red Deer probably originated in Central Asia.•
Although at one time Red Deer were rare in some areas, they were never close to extinction. Reintroduction and conservation efforts, especially in North America and in the United Kingdom, have resulted in an increase of Red Deer populations, while other areas such as north Africa and central Asia, continue to show a population decline.
Early European explorers to North America, that had seen smaller Red Deer in Europe, believed that the North American subspecies looked like an Elk, which is the common word in Europe for what North Americans call a moose. The renaming has become part of the common vocabulary of North Americans. To add further confusion, North Americans also use the word "Wapiti", which is from the Native American word used by the Shawnee who referred to the animal as waapiti, or "white rump". Today, "Wapiti" is applied to the Siberian/American Elk and other Red Deer belonging to the East Asian Red Deer group.
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Appearance
The Red Deer is a large ungulate (hoofed animal) and is a ruminant, eating their food in two stages and having an even number of toes on each hoof, similar to camels, goats and cattle. There is a wide difference in appearance between the various subspecies of Red Deer, with the smallest being the Corsican red deer found on the islands of Corsica and Sardinia in Europe and the largest being the Siberian/American Elk, particularly the Roosevelt Elk population found west of the Cascade Range in the U.S. states of California, Oregon and Washington. The Roosevelt Elk males have also been transplanted into sections of Alaska, where they have been recorded as weighing up to 591 kilograms (1,300 lbs).• American and Siberian Elk are of the 6 prong plan. The MacNeill's Deer and East Asian Red Deer such as the Manchurian Wapiti and Alashan Wapiti are also of the 6 prong plan, but less developed compared to Siberian/American Elk and only present in the most developed antlers of older individuals. The antlers are testosterone driven and as their testosterone levels drop in the fall, the velvet is shed and the antlers stop growing.•
By the time summer begins, the heavy winter coat has been shed, and Red Deer are known to rub against trees and other objects to help remove hair from their bodies. Red Deer and Elk also have different coloration based on the seasons and types of habitats, with grey or lighter coloration prevelent in the winter and a more reddish and darker coat in the summer.• Their body coating tends to be lighter in Fall and Winter, and becomes more orangish-brown in the summer time.
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Behavior
Elk bugling spectrogram.png|thumb|250px|American elk bugling spectrogram,
— '''Media:American Elk Bugling.ogg|Play audio (OGG format, 25kB)''',
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'''http://www.nps.gov/archive/wica/Sounds/Elk_Bugling.wav Play audio (wav format)'''.
Adult Red Deer usually stay in single-sex groups for most of the year. During the mating ritual, called the rut, mature stags compete for the attentions of the hinds and will then try to defend hinds that they attract. Rival stags challenge opponents by bellowing and walking in parallel. This allows combatants to assess each other's antlers, body size and fighting prowess. If neither stag backs down a clash of antlers can occur, and stags sometimes sustain serious injuries.
Dominant stags follow groups of hinds during the rut, from August into early winter. The stags may have as many as 20 hinds to keep from other less attractive males.
Male Red Deer have distinctive "roaring" (West European Red Deer) and "bugling" (American Elk) which can be heard for miles, and is used to keep his harem of females together. Bugling is often associated with an adaptation to open environments such as parklands, meadows, and savannas where sound can resonate from afar. Roaring is associated with more densely forested environments. The types of "roaring" and "bugling" vary between subspecies and the types of habitats they live in. The males of some subspecies make a sound that is a combination of "roaring" and "bugling". The Manchurian wapiti, which is similar in ecology to the West European Red Deer living in mixed deciduous forests, "bugles" like an American elk, but it's bugle is adaptive to a more forested environment. The Kashmir stag of the Himalayan mixed deciduous mountain forests commences with a "roar" but ends with a "bugle-like" sound.[ The females are initially attracted to those males that both bugle most often and have the loudest bugle call. Males also use the bugle call when competing with other males for females during the rut, and along with other forms of posturing and antler fights, is a method used by the males to establish dominance.][ Bugling is most common during the early dawn and late evening.]
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Breeding, gestation and lifespan
Red Deer mating patterns usually involve a dozen of more mating attempts before the first successful one. There may be several more matings before the stag will seek out another mate in his harem. Females in their second autumn can produce one and very rarely two offspring per year. The gestation period is 240 and 262 days and the offspring weigh between 15 and 16 kilograms (33 to 35 lbs). After two weeks, calves are able to join the herd and are fully weaned after two months.• The gestation period is the same for all subspecies.
Elk and Red Deer live up to over 20 years in captivity and average 10 to 13 years in the wild, though some subspecies that have less predation pressure average 15 years.•
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DNA studies on Red Deer subspecies
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Currently, biologists are in disagreement as to the number of different subspecies of Red Deer worldwide, with sources suggesting as many as 22 or as few as 7. Due to the diverse ecozones in which Red Deer have adapted, the number of subspecies of Red Deer would trend toward a higher number due to isolation and adaptation to specific environments which over time, may influence the appearance and behavioral characteristics of a given group to an extent that chance crossbreeding is reduced due to differences in breeding behavior between distinct subspecies.
Biologists have until recently stated that Red Deer and Elk are the same species, based on fertile hybrids that have been produced under captive conditions. Animal behavior is generally different in captivity than in the wild, and the assumption that the same results would happen in the wild as in captivity is not necessarily the best test methodology to determine speciation. Recent DNA studies conducted on hundreds samples from Red Deer and Elk subspecies determined that there are two distinct species of Red Deer and divides them into an eastern and a western species grouping. The western species (Red Deer) includes those deer that are found in Europe and western sections of Asia and includes only four subspecies. The eastern species (Elk/Wapiti) range from eastern Asia into North America and consists of three subspecies. Another one or two "primordial subspecies" may exist in central Asia, according to the study. Altogether, the study concluded that not more than 9 distinct subspecies of Red Deer exist and that the eastern and western groups should be considered to be two separate species.• Biologists have not adopted a general consensus that there are two distinct species.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources has identified nine subspecies of Red Deer as (potentially) endangered.•.
The Eastern elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis) became extinct at the end of the 19th century.
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Protection from predators
Male Red Deer retain their antlers for more than half the year and are more gregarious and less likely to group with other males when they have antlers. The antlers provide self defense as does a strong front-leg kicking action which is performed by both sexes when attacked. Once the antlers are shed, stags tend to form bachelor groups which allow them to cooperatively work together. Herds tend to have one or more members watching for potential danger while the remaining members eat and rest.[ ]
After the rut, females form large herds of up to 50 individuals. The newborn calves are kept close to the hinds by a series of vocalizations between the two, and larger nurseries have an ongoing and constant chatter during the daytime hours. When approached by predators, the largest and most robust females may make a stand, using their front legs to kick at their attackers. Guttural grunts and posturing is used with all but the most determined of predators with great effectiveness. Aside from man, Wolf and coyote packs and the solitary Mountain lion, are the most dangerous of predators that most Red Deer encounter. Occasionally, the Brown bear, grizzly and the black bear will predate on elk as well.[ Major predators in Asia include wolves, dholes, brown bears, Siberian tigers, and snow leopards. Eurasian Lynx and wild boars sometimes prey on the calves.]
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Distribution and habitat
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Cervus genus ancestors of Red Deer first appear in fossil records 12 million years ago during the Pliocene in Eurasia but do not appear in the North American fossil records until about 12,000 years ago, when they crossed the Bering land bridge.
Over time, several groups of elk in North America became isolated from one another, forming distinct behavioral characteristics to suit the environment. Over predation of many elk brought the eastern variety of elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis) to extinction, and the Merriam's elk of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico eventually succumbed to extinction around 1900.
Red Deer is one of the largest game animals found in Asia, Europe and North America. In Europe, The Red Deer is the largest non-domesticated mammal still existing in some countries such as the United Kingdom and Ireland.[ The highly adaptable Red Deer also inhabit arid regions in North American and north Africa. The Red Deer (A deer known as the "Barbary Stag" and resembles the West European Red Deer) is the only member of the deer family that is represented in Africa, with population centered in the northwestern region of the continent in the Atlas Mountains.][ As of the mid 1990s, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria were the only African countries known to have Red Deer.]
The Siberian and American Elk are the most widespread, living in taiga, temperate forests and grassland. The Elk of southern Siberia and Central Asia are restricted to the higher elevations of the mountain ranges west of Lake Baikal such as the Sayan Mountains and Altai Mountains of Mongolia and the Tianshan Mountain region that border Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and China's Xinjiang Province.
Red Deer were introduced to Argentina in the early 20th century and are considered a nuisance animal there for the most part. The highly adaptable Red Deer have encroached on habitat in Argentina, and use up food supplies that normally would be consumed by the indigenious Huemul deer (Hippocamelus bisulcus) and other herbivours.
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Migration
Red Deer in Europe generally spend their winters in lower altitudes and more wooded terrain. During the summer, they migrate to higher elevations where food supplies are greater for the calving season. Asiatic Red Deer also tend to follow the melting snows to higher altitudes in the spring and return to lower elevations for the winter months.
In North America, Elk migration is similar to that elsewhere in the world. Elk migration in the lower 48 states of the United States has been, for many decades, the largest migration of mammals remaining since the near extermination of the Bison in the late 1800s. What is known as the Yellowstone herd numbers up to 10,000 individuals. Each fall, the elk in Montana and Idaho as well as northern Wyoming begin a migration that has been a seasonal occurrence for thousands of years. Prior to the establishment of the town of Jackson, Wyoming, the herd would migrate south through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks as well as surrounding National Forests through where the town of Jackson now resides and into grasslands more than 160 kilometers (100 miles) to the south. However, since the town now impedes this natural migration route, most of the herd spends the winter at a much higher altitude than they historically did. Just outside the town limits, the National Elk Refuge was established, and conservationists there ensure the herd is well fed during the harsh winters.•
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Health issues
Brainworm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis) is a parasitic nematode that has been known to affect the spinal cord and brain tissue of elk, leading to death. The nematode has a carrier in the White-tailed Deer, in which it usually has no ill effect, but is deposited in snails which are inadvertently consumed during grazing.• Chronic Wasting Disease effects the brain tissue in elk, has been detected throughout the range in North America. First documented in the late 1960s in Mule Deer, the elk effected have been on game farms and in the wild in a number of regions. Elk that have contracted the disease begin to show weight loss, increased watering needs, disorientation, listlessness, and at an advanced stage leads to death. The disease is similar to, but not the same as Mad Cow Disease and no side effects to humans have been documented, nor has the disease been demonstrated to pose a threat to domesticated cattle.• Brucellosis is another disease that occasionally affect Red Deer in North America, but is much more common in Bison.
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Red Deer in folklore
Red Deer are widely depicted in cave art and are found throughout European caves, with some of the artwork dating from as early as 40,000 years ago, during the Upper Paleolithic. Siberian cave art from the Neolithic of 7,000 years ago has abundant depictions of Red Deer, including what can be described as spiritual artwork, indicating the importance of this mammal to the peoples of that region.•
The Elk is depicted in pictographs and petroglyphs throughout North America.•
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Elk products
Elk are held in captivity for a variety of reasons. In some circumstances, hunting interests set aside game farms, where hunters can pay a fee and be essentially guaranteed a chance to shoot an elk, as they are fenced in and have less opportunity to escape. Elk meat is not generally harvested for human consumption on a large scale, though specialty restaurants seasonally offer elk meat which is widely considered to be both flavorful and nutritious. Elk is higher in protein and lower in fat than either beef or chicken.• In some countries in central Asia, elk is still hunted as a primary source of meat.
The elk can produce 22 to 25 pounds (10 to 11 kg) of antler velvet annually and on ranches in the United States, Canada and New Zealand, this velvet is collected and sold to markets in east Asia, where it is used for holistic medicines, with South Korea being the primary consumer. The antlers themselves are also believed by east Asians to have medicinal purposes and is often ground up and used in small quanities. The antlers are also highly sought after worldwide for decorative purposes and have been used for artwork, furniture and other novelty items.
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See also
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