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Elk Island National Park of Canada
Where are the Elk?
There are more than 1100 elk in Elk Island National Park, but where are they? The answer is they are everywhere, but they dont like to be seen. Elk are our most numerous large mammal. They are more active at night than during the day so timing is an important consideration. If you want to see elk, you might want to try the following:
- Visit either at dawn or dusk. The animals are more active and you have a better chance of seeing them.
- Get off the road. Travel quietly and look off in the distance. The animals can see you much sooner than you see them so the glance will be fleeting as they run into the forest or behind a hill.
- Visit in the winter. There are no leaves on the trees to block the view. On colder days, elk do feed during the day in order to maintain their bodies energy levels.
- Find a meadow surrounded by trees, sit quietly, and wait. You may eventually see elk, but you will also be able to smell the vegetation, hear the singing and calling of many different types of birds, or see an ant carry a seed back home.
Elk (Wapiti) Cervus elaphus
Elk (Wapiti)© Parks Canada / EI9912310045Description : Second largest animal in the deer family. In summer both sexes are golden brown with a mane of long brown hair. Cream coloured rump patch.
Habitat: The preferred habitat al Elk Island is open meadows mixed with aspen forest.
Habits: Elk are herd animals. Most herds are small but in late winter cow-calf herds are larger. Elk are most visible during the winter as they must spend more daylight hours foraging for food.
Moose Alces Alces
Moose© Parks Canada / EI9912310046Description : Largest member of the deer family. Coat has a dark black appearance. Head is long with a bumped nose and a belling hanging from the throat in both sexes. Extremely long legs. Shoulders are high with a hump.
Habitat: Aspen forest, willow bog, other wooded areas, swamps, lakeshores near forest.
Habits : Moose are solitary browsers. At home in water, they sometimes dive 5.5 metres or more for plants on the lake bottom.
Fleeing: Pace or trot at 55 km/h. Do not often gallop.
White-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus
White-tailed deer© Parks Canada / EI9912310047Description: Smaller and more solitary than mule deer. Coat is brownish-gray to brownish-red. Tail is white and raised when deer is surprised or running. Face has white throat and eye rings.
Habitat : Forests and along forest edges.
Habits: Peak activity periods extend from dusk to about midnight and from the early morning hours until shortly after sunrise.
Fleeing: When alarmed, flee with two or three graceful bounds and a high leap with tail flagging and waving from side to side.
Mule deer Odocoileus hemionus
Mule deer© Parks Canada / EI9912310048Description : Mule deer are larger and stockier than white-tailed deer. Brownish-grey during the summer; grey during the winter. White face with black muzzle. Large prominent ears, black border.
Habitat : Open aspen forests and grasslands.
Habits: More curious than white-tailed deer. When running for cover they stop and look back.
Fleeing : Run with four-footed bound (stotting) - action similar to pogo stick.