Female elk antlers skin#

While loud and extremely strenuous, fights rarely cause serious injury. They crash their antlers together, push each other intensely, and wrestle for dominance. When answered, bulls move toward one another and sometimes engage in battle for access to the cows. Bulls bugle to announce their availability and fitness to females and to warn and challenge other bulls. Elk gather in mixed herds-many females and calves, with a few bulls nearby. The mating season (rut) generally occurs from early September to mid-October. 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. Because bulls spend the winter with other bulls or with gender-mixed herds, retaining antlers means fewer injuries sustained overall. When antlerless, they use their front hooves (as cows do), which is more likely to result in injury to one of the combatants. When antlered, bulls usually settle disputes by wrestling with their antlers. The antlers of a typical, healthy bull are 55–60 inches long, just under six feet wide, and weigh about 30 pounds per pair.īulls retain their antlers through the winter. 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 antler-growing period is shortest for yearling bulls (about 90 days) and longest for healthy, mature bulls (about 140 days). 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.

Female elk antlers skin#

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. 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. Antler growth is triggered in spring by a combination of two factors: a depression of testosterone levels and lengthening daylight. Bull elk begin growing their first set of antlers when they are about one year old. Currently, most scientists refer to elk in North America as Cervus canadensis.ĭue to their huge antlers, bull elk are one of the most photographed animals in Yellowstone. The North American elk is considered by some experts to be the same species as the red deer of Europe ( Cervus elaphus). The Shawnee word “wapiti,” which means “white deer” or “white-rumped deer,” is another name for elk. 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). Elk are the most abundant large mammal found in Yellowstone.