Elk

NOW AVAILABLE: NORTHERN YELLOWSTONE ELK - Resilience & Adaptation to Changes in Management Policies and the Ecosystem

Northern Yellowstone Elk Resilience and Adaptation to Changes in Management Policies and the Ecosystem

by P. J. White, Daniel R. Stahler, Douglas W. Smith, Daniel R. MacNulty, and Robert A. Garrott

This book examines the history of elk conservation and management in the United States, compiles the latest scientific information about Yellowstone elk, and discusses both the opportunities for and challenges to elk conservation within the Greater Yellowstone Area and across their historic range.

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Duration:

17 minutes, 14 seconds

Elk are the most abundant large mammal found in Yellowstone and are an important species within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

 

 

Yellowstone provides summer range for an estimated 10,000–20,000 elk (Cervus canadensis) from six to seven herds, most of which winter at lower elevations outside the park. These herds provide visitor enjoyment as well as revenue to local economies through hunting outside the park. As Yellowstone’s most abundant ungulate, elk comprise approximately 85% of winter wolf kills and are an important food for bears, mountain lions, and at least 12 scavenger species, including bald eagles and coyotes. Competition with elk can influence the diet, habitat selection, and demography of bighorn sheep, bison, moose, mule deer, and pronghorn. Elk browsing and nitrogen deposition can affect vegetative production, soil fertility, and plant diversity. Thus, changes in elk abundance over space and time can alter plant and animal communities in Yellowstone.

 

Number in Yellowstone

• Summer: 10,000–20,000 elk in six to seven different herds.
• Winter: <4,000.

Where to See

• Summer: Cascade Meadows, Madison Canyon, and Lamar Valley.
• Autumn, during “rut” or mating season: northern range, including Mammoth Hot Springs; Madison River.
• Winter: Winter: migrate north to the northern range and around Gardiner, Montana; south to the Jackson Hole Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming.

Size and Behavior

• Males (bulls) weigh ~700 pounds and are ~five feet high at the shoulder; females (cows) weigh ~500 pounds and are shorter; calves are ~30 pounds at birth.
• Bulls have antlers, which begin growing in the spring and usually drop in March or April of the following year.
• Feed on grasses, sedges, other herbs and shrubs, bark of aspen trees, conifer needles, burned bark, aquatic plants.
• Mating season (rut) in September and October; single calves born in May to late June.

 

Description

Elk are the most abundant large mammal found in Yellowstone. European American settlers used the word “elk” to describe the animal, which is the word used in Europe for moose (causing great confusion for European visitors). The Shawnee word “wapiti,” which means “white deer” or “white-rumped deer,” is another name for elk. The North American elk is considered by some experts to be the same species as the red deer of Europe (Cervus elaphus). This is an ongoing taxonomic debate. Currently, most scientists refer to elk in North America as Cervus canadensis.

Due to their huge antlers, bull elk are one of the most photographed animals in Yellowstone. Bull elk begin growing their first set of antlers when they are about one year old. Antler growth is triggered in spring by a combination of two factors: a depression of testosterone levels and lengthening daylight. The first result of this change is the casting or shedding of the previous year’s “rack.” Most bulls drop their antlers in March and April. New growth begins soon after.

Growing antlers are covered with a thick, fuzzy coating of skin commonly referred to as “velvet.” Blood flowing in the skin deposits calcium that makes the antler. Usually around early August, further hormonal changes signal the end of antler growth, and the bull begins scraping the velvet off, polishing and sharpening the antlers in the process.

The antler-growing period is shortest for yearling bulls (about 90 days) and longest for healthy, mature bulls (about 140 days). Roughly 70% of the antler growth takes place in the last half of the period, when the antlers of a mature bull will grow two-thirds of an inch each day. The antlers of a typical, healthy bull are 55–60 inches long, just under six feet wide, and weigh about 30 pounds per pair.

Bulls retain their antlers through the winter. When antlered, bulls usually settle disputes by wrestling with their antlers. When antlerless, they use their front hooves (as cows do), which is more likely to result in injury to one of the combatants. Because bulls spend the winter with other bulls or with gender-mixed herds, retaining antlers means fewer injuries sustained overall. Also, bulls with large antlers that are retained longer are at the top of elk social structure, allowing them preferential access to feeding sites and mates.

 

Elk Antlers

Antlers are usually symmetrical and occur on males, or very occasionally females.

• The average, healthy, mature bull has 6 tines on each antler, and is known in some parts of the US as a “six point” or “six by six.”
• One-year-old bulls grow 10–20 inch spikes, sometimes forked.
• Two-year-old bulls usually have slender antlers with 4 to 5 points.
• Three-year-old bulls have thicker antlers.
• Four-year-old and older bulls typically have 6 points; antlers are thicker and longer each year.
• Eleven- or twelve-year old bulls often grow the heaviest antlers; after that age, the size of antlers generally diminishes.

 

 

Mating Season

The mating season (rut) generally occurs from early September to mid-October. Elk gather in mixed herds—many females and calves, with a few bulls nearby. Bulls bugle to announce their availability and fitness to females and to warn and challenge other bulls. When answered, bulls move toward one another and sometimes engage in battle for access to the cows. They crash their antlers together, push each other intensely, and wrestle for dominance. While loud and extremely strenuous, fights rarely cause serious injury. The weaker bull ultimately gives up and wanders off.

Bulls retain their antlers through the winter. When antlered, bulls usually settle disputes by wrestling with their antlers. When antlerless, they use their front hooves (as cows do), which is more likely to result in injury to one of the combatants. Because bulls spend the winter with other bulls or with gender-mixed herds, retaining antlers means fewer injuries sustained overall. Also, bulls with large antlers that are retained longer are at the top of elk social structure, allowing them preferential access to feeding sites and mates.

 

 

Abundance of the northern Yellowstone elk population, 1923–2022. Shaded area indicates uncertainty about the trend with respect to random under- and overcounting. These results underestimate the true population size because they do not account for imperfect sightability.

Population

The high elevation grasslands of the park provide summer habitat for 10,000–20,000 elk. However, fewer than 4,000 elk spend winter in the park. Climate is an important factor affecting the size and distribution of elk herds. Many ungulates migrate to increase their access to high-quality food. They prefer to feed on young plants, which are the most nutritious. In winter, colder temperatures and snowfall decrease the amount of forage that grows, which means less forage is accessible to wildlife. This forces elk to migrate to areas where forage is more available. The timing and routes of Northern Yellowstone elk migration closely follow the areas of seasonal vegetation growth and changes in snow depth. After winters with high snowpack, elk delay migration. In years with lower snowpack and earlier vegetation green-up, elk migrate earlier.

Ungulates that migrate typically give birth around periods of peak vegetation green-up to overlap with high-nutrition plant phases. Nutritious food allows mothers and calves to build up fat reserves. Changes in climate will undoubtedly impact newborn elk, but it is difficult to predict whether that impact will be positive or negative. Earlier spring could lead to a longer snow-free season where migration and access to food are not encumbered. However, a longer growing sea-son, without increased access to high-quality forage, might have a negative impact. Warmer temperatures could increase the rate of green-up, causing the plants to complete their growth cycle faster, thus shortening the period of time that food is available and accessible. Also, earlier spring could result in a mismatch in the timing of calving and the date of peak plant nutrition, resulting in high mortality of newborn calves.

 

Elk on the Northern Range

Yellowstone’s largest elk herd winters along and north of the park’s winter boundary. With more moderate temperatures and less snowfall than the park interior, this area can support large numbers of wintering elk. The herd winters in the area of the Lamar and Yellowstone river valleys from Soda Butte to Gardiner, Montana. Currently, the majority of the northern herd migrates outside of the park into the Custer Gallatin National Forest and onto private land.

After decades of debate over whether this range was overgrazed by too many elk, public concern has shifted to the herd’s small size. The winter count, which was approximately 17,000 when wolf reintroduction began in 1995, fell below 10,000 in 2003. It fluctuated between 6,000 and 7,000 as the wolf population on the park’s northern range declined from 94 in 2007 to 50 by the end of 2015. The elk count dropped to 3,915 in early 2013, the lowest since culling ended in the park in the 1960s. However, the elk pop has been increasing since 2013. There were more elk counted in 2022 (6,673) than during the final year of Gardiner Late Hunt (2010: 6,070) just north of the park's boundary. This hunt was initiated by the State of Montana in 1976 prior to carnivore recovery and designed to reduce the size of the northern herd through the removal of adult female elk. While these raw counts do not account for factors known to influence number of elk counted (e.g., snow cover, group size, sightability of elk across habitat types), these recent trends in minimum count estimates suggest herd size has stabilized or is even increasing. Decreased numbers have been attributed to large carnivore recovery (wolves, cougars, bears), hunter harvest, and drought-related effects on pregnancy and survival. The State of Montana has reduced the permits issued for this herd so that hunting of females now has little impact on population size.

There are some indications that elk–carnivore interactions are contributing to a release of willows and other woody vegetation from the effects of herbivory on the northern range. Carnivores play some role in altering elk behavior, group size, habitat selection, movements, and distribution; while the proportion of browsed aspen, cottonwood, and willow leaders has decreased in some areas during recent years, and cottonwood and willow heights have increased significantly. Others argue that lower elk densities over the past two decades—resulting from the combined effects of predators (wolves, cougars, bears), human hunters, and weather—has necessarily altered the impact of elk browsing. Research is under way to determine the relative effects of climate, hydrology, carnivore predation/avoidance, and herbivory on these woody species.

Elk in the Interior

Only one herd lives both winter and summer inside the park. The Madison–Firehole elk herd (less than 100 animals) has been the focus of a research study since November 1991. Researchers are examining how environmental variability effects ungulate reproduction and survival. Prior to wolf restoration, the population was naturally regulated by severe winter conditions to a degree not found in other, human-hunted elk herds. The elk are also affected by high fluoride and silica levels in the water and plants they eat, which affect enamel formation and wear out teeth quickly—thus shortening their lives. The typical life span is 13 years; elk on the northern range regularly live to about 18 years. Information gained in this study will be useful in comparing non-hunted and hunted elk populations.

Elk in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is home to approximately 30,000–40,000 elk. For the last decade, the Jackson herd, which currently numbers about 11,000, has been larger than the northern Yellowstone herd. Some ranges and migratory routes overlap, and some interchange occurs among the herds. Summer range in the southern part of Yellowstone National Park is used by part of the Jackson herd as well as by elk from the North Fork Shoshone and northern Yellowstone herds. Because the wildlife responsibilities of the National Park Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the US Forest Service, and state wildlife agencies also coincide, elk management in Greater Yellowstone requires substantial coordination among government agencies with different priorities.

 

Duration:

5 minutes, 52 seconds

The Northern Range is the hub of wildlife in Yellowstone National Park. Occupying just 10 percent of the park, it is winter range for the biggest elk herd in Yellowstone and is arguably the most carnivore-rich area in North America. Early management of predators caused dynamic changes to the ecosystem. The reappearance of carnivores on the landscape has had significant and sometimes unexpected impacts on the resident grazers and their habitat.

 

Individual cases of chronic wasting disease, by species, recorded in Wyoming from 2009–2015.

Disease in Greater Yellowstone

Brucellosis

Many elk and bison in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have been exposed to the bacterium that causes brucellosis. Brucellosis is a contagious bacterial disease that originated in livestock and often causes infected cows to abort their first calves. It is transmitted primarily when susceptible animals directly contact infected birth material. No cure exists for brucellosis in wild animals. For more information about brucellosis, see “Bison.”

The prevalence of brucellosis in Yellowstone elk is low; the rate of exposure to brucellosis in 100 adult female elk captured on the park’s northern range during the winters of 2000 to 2005 was 2%; it was 3% in 130 neonatal elk on the park’s northern range during the summers of 2003–2005; and it was 3% in 73 adult female elk captured in the park’s Madison– Firehole drainages during winters of 1996–1998. Elk are commonly observed within 100 yards of bison during late winter and spring when brucellosis-induced abortion or calving occurs in Yellowstone.

Because of their high densities, elk that are fed in winter have sustained high levels of brucellosis; winter feeding on the northern range stopped more than 50 years ago. Elk are fed during the winter at the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming, in addition to 22 Wyoming-run feed grounds. The feed grounds were created in the 1900s to maintain Wyoming’s elk herds and limit depredation as migratory routes from summer range to lower elevation winter ranges became blocked by settlement in the Jackson area. Transmission of brucellosis from feed ground elk, where an average of 30% have tested positive for exposure to the bacteria, was the apparent source of infection in Wyoming cattle in 2004.

Chronic Wasting Disease

Elk, deer, and moose in and near Yellowstone National Park are at risk for infection by chronic wasting disease (CWD). This fatal infection, transmitted by animal contact or through the environment, has spread to within 10 miles of the park. National Park Service staff and partners will continue surveillance and, if necessary, take action to minimize both transmission of the disease and the effects of intervention on the elk population and other park resources.

 

 

Resources

Barber, S.M., L.D. Mech, and P.J. White. 2005. Yellowstone elk calf mortality following wolf restoration: Bears remain top summer predators. Yellowstone Science 13(3): 37–44.

Barmore, W.J. Jr. 2003. Ecology of ungulates and their winter range in northern Yellowstone National Park, Research and Synthesis 1962–1970. Yellowstone Center for Resources.

Beja-Pereira, A., B. Bricker, S. Chen, C. Almendra, P.J. White, and G. Luikart. 2009. DNA genotyping suggests that recent brucellosis outbreaks in the greater Yellowstone area originated from elk. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 45(4):1174–1177.

Borkowski, J.J., P.J. White, R.A. Garrott, T. Davis, A.R. Hardy, and D.J. Reinhart. 2006. Behavioral responses of bison and elk in Yellowstone to snowmobiles and snow coaches. Ecological Applications 16(5):1911–1925.

Garrott, R.A., et al. 2005. Generalizing wolf effects across the greater Yellowstone area: a cautionary note. Wildlife Society Bulletin 33:1245–1255.

Garrott, R.A., P.J. White, and F.G.R. Watson. 2008. The Ecology of Large Mammals in Central Yellowstone: Sixteen Years of Integrated Field Studies In Terrestrial Ecology Series. London, UK: Academic Press, Elsevier.

Hardy, A.R. 2001. Bison and elk responses to winter recreation in Yellowstone National Park. MS. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University.

Houston, D.B. 1982. The Northern Yellowstone Elk: Ecology and Management. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.

Kreeger, T.J. 2002. Brucellosis in elk and bison in the Greater Yellowstone area. Cheyenne, WY: Wyoming Game and Fish Department for the Greater Yellowstone Interagency Brucellosis Committee.

Middleton, A.D., T.A. Morrison, J.K. Fortin, M.J. Kauffman, C.T. Robbins, K.M. Proffitt, P.J. White, D.E. McWhirter, T.M. Koel, D. Brimeyer, and W.S. Fairbanks. 2013. Grizzly bears link non-native trout to migratory elk in Yellowstone. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 280:20130870.

National Research Council. 2002. Ecological Dynamics on Yellowstone’s Northern Range. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

White, P.J., and R.A. Garrott. 2005. Northern Yellowstone elk after wolf restoration. Wildlife Society Bulletin 33:942–955.

White, P.J., and R.A. Garrott. 2005. Yellowstone’s ungulates after wolves – expectations, realizations, and predictions. Biological Conservation 125:141–152.

White, P.J. et al. 2003. Evaluating the consequences of wolf recovery on northern Yellowstone elk. Yellowstone Center for Resources.

White, P.J., et al. 2005. Yellowstone after wolves – EIS predictions and ten-year appraisals. Yellowstone Science 13:34–41.

White, P.J., K.M. Proffitt, and T.O. Lemke. 2012. Changes in elk distribution and group sizes after wolf restoration. American Midland Naturalist 167:174–187.

White, P.J., R.A. Garrott, K.L. Hamlin, R.C. Cook, J.G. Cook, and J.A. Cunningham. 2011. Body condition and pregnancy in northern Yellowstone elk - evidence for predation risk effects? Ecological Applications 21:3–8.

White, P.J., K.M. Proffitt, L.D. Mech, S.B. Evans, J.A. Cunningham, and K.L. Hamlin. 2010. Migration of northern Yellowstone elk - implications of spatial structuring. Journal of Mammalogy 91:827–837.

White, P.J., R.A. Garrott, and G.E. Plumb, eds. 2013. Yellowstone’s Wildlife in Transition. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

White, P.J., D. R. Stahler, D. W. Smith, D. R. MacNulty, and R. A. Garrott. 2023, In press. Northern Yellowstone Elk: Resilience and Adaptation to Changes in Management Policies and the Ecosystem.

Williams, E.S., M.W. Miller, T.J. Kreeger, R.H. Kahn, and E.T. Thorne. 2002. Chronic wasting disease of deer and elk: A review with recommendations for management. Journal of Wildlife Management 66(3):551–563.