There are more than 750,000 Elk today, many living on federally protected lands in the United States and Canada. They have prospered due to good conservation and management practices, and also perhaps because of the decline of large predators. Herds can include 200 or more animals. Males and females usually congregate in separate herds until the breeding season, in late September or early October. Then adult males use a variety of ostentatious behaviors to distinguish themselves and compete for access to reproducing females. They use their elaborate six-tined antlers, which may measure nearly 2 m in length along the main shaft, to clash with one another, they call loudly, and they spray urine. A calf weighing about 14 kg is born after a six-month gestation period. The future of Elk seems secure, so long as the interests of hunters, livestock managers, and tourists can be balanced.

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Mammal Species of the World