Elk. The elk, or wapiti, is the second largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The word elk originally referred to the European variety of the moose, Alces alces, but was transferred to Cervus canadensis by North American colonists. The name wapiti derives from a Shawnee and Cree word meaning white rump for the distinctive light fur in the rear region, just like the Bighorn Sheep. Elk range in forest and forest-edge habitat, feeding on grasses, plants, leaves, and bark. Male elk have large antlers, which they shed each year. Males also engage in ritualized mating behaviors during the rut, including posturing, antler wrestling, and bugling, a loud series of vocalizations that establishes dominance over other males and attracts females. Although it is currently native to North America and central/eastern Asia, it had a much broader distribution in the past. Populations were present across Eurasia into Western Europe during the Late Pleistocene and survived into the early Holocene in southern Sweden and the Alps; the extinct Merriam's elk subspecies ranged into Mexico. The elk has adapted well to countries where it has been introduced, including Argentina and New Zealand. Its adaptability may, in fact, threaten endemic species and the ecosystems it enters. Elk are susceptible to several infectious diseases, some of which can be transmitted to livestock. Efforts to eliminate infectious diseases from elk populations, primarily by vaccination, have had mixed success. Some cultures revere the elk as having spiritual significance. Antlers and velvet are used in traditional medicines in parts of Asia. Elk is hunted as a game species, and their meat is leaner and higher in protein than beef or chicken. Elk were long believed to belong to a subspecies of the European red deer, but evidence from many mitochondrial DNA genetic studies beginning in 1998 shows that the two are distinct species. The former's wider rump patch and paler-hued antlers are key morphological differences that distinguish C. canadensis from C. elaphus. By the 17th century, Alces alces had long been extirpated from the British Isles, and the meaning of the word elk to English-speakers became rather vague, acquiring a meaning similar to large deer. The name wapiti is from the Shawnee and Cree word, meaning white rump. There is a subspecies of wapiti in Mongolia called the Altai wapiti, also known as the Altai maral. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the etymology of the word elk is of obscure history. In Classical Antiquity, the European Alces alces was known as Ancient Greek:, and Latin: alces, words probably borrowed from a Germanic language or another language of northern Europe. By the 8th century, during the Early Middle Ages, the moose was known as Old English: elch, elh, eolh, derived from the Proto-Germanic: *elho-, *elhon-and possibly connected with the Old Norse: elgr. Later, the species became known in Middle English as elk, elcke, or elke, appearing in the Latinized form alke, with the spelling alce borrowed directly from Latin: alces. Noting that elk is not the normal phonetic representative of the Old English elch, the Oxford English Dictionary derives elk from Middle High German: elch, itself from Old High German: elaho. The American Cervus canadensis was recognized as a relative of the red deer of Europe, and so Cervus canadensis were referred to as red deer. Richard Hakluyt refers to North America as a lande. full of many beastes, as redd dere in his 1584 Discourse Concerning Western Planting. Similarly, John Smith's 1616 A Description of New England referred to red deer. Sir William Talbot's 1672 English translation of John Lederer's Latin Discoveries likewise called the species red deer, but noted in parentheses that they were for their unusual largeness improperly termed Elks by ignorant people. Both Thomas Jefferson's 1785 Notes on the State of Virginia and David Bailie Warden's 1816 Statistical, Political, and Historical Account of the United States used red deer to refer to Cervus canadensis. Elk in snow at Yellowstone National Park Elk crossing Opal Terrace at Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park Bull elk in late autumn, Banff National Park, Canada Sparring bull elks in Banff National Park, Canada Members of the genus Cervus first appear in the fossil record 25 million years ago, during the Oligocene in Eurasia, but do not appear in the North American fossil record until the early Miocene.
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