![]() The woods-loving red deer would rather browse than graze. They never found their way down into South America. They don't do well in hot climates - dry or wet - and that's why Wapiti have thrived in almost every North American habitat, and in the past they lived in Florida - but never in the desert For the wapiti 57" isn't rare, and the record is 67"- that's over five and a half feet! A red deer antler can weigh as much as 20 lb, small change compared to the elk's record of over 35 lb. Record antler length for red deer is a stag from Rumania with antlers over 53". While our wapiti don't win the contest for antler points, they do win it for length and weight. The basic antler plan for the red deer is a five tines (for ten total points) and it is normal for them to grow additional points.Ĭompare the elk's maximum 18 points to the record number for the red deer - a German stag with 66 points! But you can still make out the underlying six-tine structure. Three of their tines howeverĬan split in two, so a typical antler can have up to nine points (18 total). Elk antlers aren't smooth, but are smoother than red deer antlers which are like rough tree bark.Įlk antlers have a six-tine plan (12 total points) and it's uncommon for them to grow extra points. The larger cows are around 400 - 430 lb.Īn interesting difference between the wapiti and red deer is that the winter body weights of our wapiti will go up by 150% from their summer weight, but in the red deer the increase can be up to an amazing 500%!Īntlers of elk and red deer are different in shape, texture, maximum number of points, length and weight.Įlk antlers grow up, out and backward, while the red deer's grow up and inward. Summer that their tails can appear pulled in! Their weights thenĬan be well over 1000 lb. There is a dwarf form of wapiti (Tule elk in California), but the larger elk bulls weighĪround 800 lb when lean, then they put on so much added fat during the Subspecies of red deer and sika might be so genetically confused that certain of the pure forms Much genetic mixing, so that we find stray genes in populations of elk, red deer and sika as well. The elk bulls and red deer stags canĪlso breed the related (and much smaller) sika hinds (The cross cannot go the other way because the tiny sika stags could never mount the huge females.) The male elk-red deer hybrid is a "red stag" (instead of red deer stag), and the hybrid of a sika and elk is called a "silk" deer.įarming and introductions outside of their natural ranges have caused Red deer and elk interbreed, but like most hybrids their instincts are criss-crossed and they don't usually In several ways, including hoarse, thunderous mooing like a cow, or whining when annoyed The red deer can make shrill calls too, but when they do roar it's boneĬhilling and sounds like an enormous lion. The bull elk's call is a deep, shrill bugle that resonates using his two ivory teeth in the upper jaw, while the red deer's call is a roar. The male red deer (and sika) is a "stag" and the female red deer (and sika) is a"hind". Compare his redder color and smaller rump patch to the elk's.Īnd the female is a cow. It was probably brought over from Europe though and not a true native.įor breeding red deer, but actually has no native deer. The only deer in Africa is the red deer, known as a Barbary stag. Because our elk is actually the most eastern form of the red deer, it is considered to be an Old World deer, and it's the largest of them all. The west in Great Britain, across Europe, and to Russia and China where the red deer are the largest. There are different races, and they get bigger as you go from ![]() But we just can't seem to give up calling them elk.Ĭome from Europe, Asia and the British Isles. Term "wapiti" was proposed back in 1806 to replace "elk". Elk is the term for the moose in the Old World, but here in America it was incorrectly Name of "wapiti" because of an old mistake in naming them. Our elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis) are the same species (The words "Linnaeus" and "canadensis" refer to subspecies, but the species name for both deer is elaphus.) Some scientists though think there are so manyĭifferences between them that they should be separated. You can see the large, tan rump patch characteristic of the elk.Įuropean red deer ( Cervus elaphus Linnaeus 1758 ) and Photo graphic images and species info RED Hunting elk and red deer, Cervus elaphus, in Florida. ![]()
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