THE ELK 



(A Ices machlis) 



ALTHOUGH the elk can claim an easy superiority in the matter of size over 

 all the other members of the deer tribe, it certainly cannot be accorded a 

 high position in the scale of beauty. For, truth to say, it is an ugly and 

 ungainly creature, with disproportionately long legs, and huge head terminating in a 

 broad, flabby, and almost trunk-like muzzle. By the sportsman, however, it is held 

 in high estimation, owing to the magnificent trophies formed by its great spreading 

 antlers, which in Alaskan specimens may have a span of as much as six feet. 

 And when the build of the elk is considered in relation to its mode of life, we see 

 that what appears ugly and ungainly to our eyes is merely adaptation to a 

 particular mode of life. For in summer the elk spends much of its time wading 

 belly-deep in marshes and lakes in search of the water-plants which form a large 

 proportion of its food at this season ; and in this pursuit its long limbs must 

 obviously be of the greatest advantage, while the broad and mobile muzzle is 

 specially well adapted for gathering in the floating leaves and stalks. Possibly 

 the almost wholly hairy extremity of the muzzle is another adaptation to the same 

 end. The elk typifies the wading type among mammals just as much as does the 

 flamingo among birds. 



Like many other mammals of northern Europe, the elk has a circumpolar 

 distribution, although most Transatlantic naturalists regard its American representa- 

 tives in the light of a distinct species rather than as local races. 



In common with the brown bear, the elk attains its maximum stature in 

 Alaska, where it towers to a height of close on seven feet at the shoulder. At one 

 time an inhabitant of the British Isles, the elk is still found in many parts of 

 Germany and Austria-Hungary, and is abundant in Scandinavia ; from these 

 countries its range extends eastward through Poland and Russia, and thence across 

 the whole of Siberia. On the other side of Bering Strait it reappears in Alaska, 

 whence it ranges through British Columbia to Maine and other parts of the United 

 States. The differences between the elk (or moose, as it is there called) of the 

 United States and the typical elk of Scandinavia are so slight that it requires an 

 expert to distinguish between the two. 



It is, however, very noteworthy that certain Scandinavian elk never develop 

 the huge expansions, or " shovels," which form the most characteristic feature of 

 the antlers of the species, but carry only five simple tines ; and in east Siberia 

 this simpler type of antler seems to be very prevalent. 



