Description: Elk (Cervus canadensis), also known as Wapiti, are very large, deer-like creatures. Males stand to 5-ft at the shoulder and weigh up to 1,000 pounds. Antlers are very long (to 65 inches) and wide (spread to 74 inches). Color is tan overall, with white on the rump and chestnut on the head and neck. Antlers are shed in late fall. Females are smaller (to 600 pounds) and lack antlers.

Taxonomy: Order: Artiodactyla, Family: Cervidae. Recent research indicates that North American elk are a species separate from European Red Deer (Cervus elaphus).

Diet: Elk feed in forest and forest-edge habitats, primarily grazing on grasses and forbs, but they also browse on leaves and bark.

Habitat: Open shrubby forests, mountain meadows in summer; lower elevations (foothills, valleys) during winter. Ranging during the year from the Pine-Fir Forest (Canadian Life Zone) down to the Mojave Desert Scrub (Upper Sonoran Life Zone).

Range: Widely scattered throughout western North America with populations centered in the Rocky Mountains and along the Pacific Coast from Washington south to northern California.

Comments: A herd of rocky mountain elk was introduced into the Cold Creek area in the Spring Mountains in the 1950s where a small herd is managed by the Nevada Division of Wildlife for hunting. In recent years, the herd suddenly spread southward, at least as far as Mt. Potosi.