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Elk
April 17, 2008 | 25 Comments
The Grand Tetons
Every winter, thousands of elk come down from the Grand Teton mountains and congregate at Jackson Hole, (‘hole’ stands for valley) Wyoming.
The National Elk Refuge At Jackson Hole is home to over 5000 wild elk, making it the largest gathering of wintering elk anywhere.
In the biting cold, adventurous visitors get close to the sea of fur and antlers in horse-drawn sleighs.
Elk forage for food in forest and forest-edge habitat, feeding on grasses, plants, leaves and bark. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service helps maintain these herds by scattering food pellets in the snow.
Also called wapiti, the elk (Cervus canadensis), is the second largest species of deer in the world. Only the moose is larger. The moose is sometimes (wrongly) called ‘elk’ in Europe.
The elk are protected here from hunters and predators and go back to the mountains when the snows melt. Elk are hunted as a game species; the meat is leaner and higher in protein than beef or chicken.
Bulls (male elk) have large antlers which are shed each year.
Male elks, like humans. display some ridiculous behaviour to attract females.
During the rut (around August) – they engage in bugling, a loud series of screams which establishes dominance over other bulls and attracts cows (females). The bugle call is one of the most distinctive calls in nature. (Listen HERE)
The rest of the year, they pull puerile stunts like posturing and antler wrestling when females are around. This is how many of the males lose their antlers. Thankfully, they grow back.
The girls snicker as they pass by.
Sometimes they don’t even realise when the ‘fight’ is over.
Coyote
The National Elk Refuge also has other animals like bison, coyotes, wolves, moose, bighorn sheep, trumpeter swans and bald eagles.
At sunset the herds wind their way back up the foothills, among the trees, where it is less windy.
The horses return to the stables
We return to downtown Jackson.
Filed Under: elk, Grand Teton National Park, Jackson Hole, National Elk Refuge, national park, Photo Essays, TRAVEL, wapiti, wildlife, winter, Wyoming
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25 Comments
Beautiful pictures.
)))
I guess girls Elks are like we females
Wow..Amazing pics
Isn’t Wyoming a magical place.
Beautiful animal gathering in winter. Thanks to take us in such a virtual tour.
beautiful scenaries and photos…very beautiful place..i loved the first photo.the water effect in it is so soothing…
Those are some simply gorgeous pictures
Such beautiful pictures, jai and bee, and I can only imagine how spectacular it would be to see the elk in such numbers in the wild. That coyote’s pretty darn gorgeous too!
Astounding pictures, with well written description. There is no end to Mother Nature’s wonders.
We have been planning…planning………and planning some more to make it this place. And yes , the plan is still in drafts! U seem to have gone winter time! How did u guyz survive..we want to camp though…Our camping at Alaska was a wonder!
the national park is closed until may. we drove upto jackson, saw the elk and came back.
I think i like the sleigh pic more than the elks
It’s always a pleasure to see the country through your eyes, magnificent!
wow..gr8 pictures!
You must have had a wonderful time. Very good pictures.
lovely pictures!!
B, emoticons gul!! Loved all the pics n u both have captured wild life sooooo beautifully! Thks for sharing!:)
U guys rock!
pics make me feels like i just visited there
. you guys are rocking as usual. kudos to you.
Brrr – lovely pics, but I kept thinking of how cold it must have been while you were shooting them!!!
Thanks for the virtual tour, the second pic is really majestic!
Miri
The picture of the Grand Tetons is mind blowing!
Lovely pics. You might also enjoy these pics taken in the Grand Teton NP.
Gorgeous Photos. Thanks for sharing.
awesome photos. and a lovely humorous write-up, a great accompaniment to the lovely photos. you guys should send this stuff to the WWF or NWF. hey, where are the emoticons? well, imagine a smiley face giving you the thumbs up!
Wow, I’ve driven through Wyoming in summer, but have never experience it’s winter glory. Thank you so much for this trip! I hope to be able to see all these wonderful scenes in person one day!
[...] We went camping there earlier this month. This was our third visit. All three gave us just a whiff of this magical place. The first time, two years ago, we whizzed past on our way back from Yellowstone, spellbound, but too rushed to stop. Last winter, when the park was closed, we visited Jackson Hole to see the elk pack at the National Elk Refuge. (Pics HERE) [...]
[...] these sparring elk at Grand Teton? I used them to make this for our taekwondo [...]