During the winter, elk spend most of their time in valleys between mountains. This is where they feed on shrubs beneath the snow. During the warmer months, they move higher up the mountain to graze and to give birth.
While their antlers are actively growing, they’re covered with and protected by a soft layer of highly vascularised skin that’s known as velvet. The elk shed the velvet in the summer when the antlers are fully developed.
Elk are part of the Artiodactyla order of mammals, which means that they have an even number of toes on each foot. Camels, goats and cattle are also in this family. Elk are ruminants, which means that they have four-chambered stomachs.
They’re herbivores, which means that they’re primarily plant eaters. Their diet varies on the season, but it mostly consists of grasses, sedges, flowers and other soft plants. In the winter, they’re sometimes known to eat woody plants such as cedar and red maple.
They will defend a moving territory around the harem with males advertising their territory and status through bugling. Fights between dominant males and other male elk are intense and often result in injury, exhaustion and death.
