the elk is the biggest stag-type of the world. In Europe, it reaches a withers-height of 1,90 m and a weight of 400 kg. The biggest race, the giant-elk from Alaska, becomes 2,30 m high and 800 kg heavily and can reach antlers-displays up to 2 m.
Spread, habitat Elks live in Eurasia's north and in North America in a forest-belt, that shows the foliage-woods required by them. they prefer break-good forests with swamps and seas. Here and there, they go into the mountains.
Shape The elk has a massive body, a short, thick neck, a long skull and long legs. The fur-color is dun, the calves are colored bay. Male elks have a hanging skin fold, that can turn into the dewlap, at the neck. This structure is emphasized even more by long Behaarung. A back-good rise is on the withers. The waiter-lip overhangs far, the nose-field has a triangular, bare skin-plate. The tail is rather short.
The rose-sticks grow after the side and form a right corner with the skull-longitudinal-axis. The antlers grows shovel-nicely, however also pole-antlerses occur, that then are several times bifurcate, however.
An instep-skin is between the big peel-hooves, the anus-claws are well developed, they can touch the ground. After its foot-construction, the elk is on tried at soft, marshy underground.
Way of life Elks are loners. An alto-animal keeps its calf with itself until the second year of life. A Brunftrudel consists of the stag, the hind and possibly 3-4 calves (this year's and last year's).
In the winter, elks avoid the floods and leave the valleys. In drier forest-areas, herds of up to 50 animals then meet. There is not any closer cohesion in such herds. Alto-animals with calves expel other elks, among them also strong stags, from its proximity.
Elks are as well as at night as also during the day active. they behave very inconspicuously outside the Brunft. Hunters know to report that camouflaged elks so well in the dense grove stands that maintained not it one, even if one approaches them on short distance. Furthermore these gigantic stags understand to creep away from a danger-zone before one noticed it. With Treibjagden, even strong stags escape unseen through the driver-chain.
Hearing and sense of smell are well trained with elks. The small eye seems to be less efficient.
In general elks move in the cloister, however, they trot also in the amble.
Elks don't wallow. they like to go into the water, however, and swim well, also over bigger routes. In East-Prussia, they cross the Kurische lagoon this way, even in the Baltic sea they are found occasionally. Elks reached the Ã…land-Inseln swimming.
Hikes In the north of its spread-area, elks execute downright hikes. In the summer, they move into the tundra and come back into the Taiga, the timberland, in the winter. With such hikes, elks put back distances between 700 kilometers without further. In Scandinavia, they avoid the summery gnat-nuisance and climb highly into the mountains until over 1000 m.
Enemies The wolf is the most dangerous enemy of the elks. Furthermore, they fall victim to the bear. Whether also smaller carnivores can harm them, appears doubtfully. A healthy elk sits down to the weir through vehement hits with its runs. This defense is so effective that the robbers usually give up from its victim.
Reproduction With 21/2 years, elks are reproductive-capable. They generally possibly are already one year in captivity earlier. The Brunft doesn't begin simultaneously in the individual areas. In East-Prussia, elks become brunftig in August, in Russia and Scandinavia in September and Octobers. If the stags fight together, they clash the antlerses and try to push away each other. A kicked the ball out stag is not tolerated by the place-stag in its proximity. The Brunftschrei is a deep one near. Brunftige stags look for a female by following its scent-track.
After a Tragzeit of 32-35 weeks, the younger elk-cows place 1 calves, the older 2 or as an exception also 3 calves, that are suckled for 1 years. After few life-days, they follow its mother everywhere.
Food Elks äsen foliage, buds, wood and bark of foliage-woods. Pasture, poplar and birch take it especially gladly. From the needle-groves, they prefer larch, jaws and junipers. They estimate the spruce less. The long lips of these animals are arranged to the wiping the foliage. If an elk skins the bark of a tree, it bites one piece loosely and moves it in long strips of the tree.
Because of its short neck, elks can eat only with some effort of the ground, because its body is built for picking up the feed in a certain height of the ground. If an elk wants to reach the ground, it either must spread the front-legs like a giraffe, or it settles on its wrists, approximately with the food from heather or from fungi.
Elks like to be in order to graze water-plants, especially waterlilies, into the water. They dive under the water-surface on that occasion with the head.
Zähmung Already since centuries, people tried to use elks as rides and Zugtiere. Since young reared animals become very tame, they let themselves train in certain scope. In rough terrain, they are as mounts of benefits. The performances of an elk as Zugtier before sleighs or cars are not to be compared with those of a horse of course. Furthermore elk-cows can be milked, and since elks multiply relatively fast, a high meat-profit of them is to be expected.
Conservation From Central Europe, the elk vanished in the course of the Middle ages. In East-Prussia however, a continuance had until in the 19. Century gotten. By scheduled Hegemaßnahmen, the number of the elks was increased Ostpreußens considerably until the World War II. After the war, the elk-continuance apparently had gone out there. The Soviet union introduced new elks from Russia in East-Prussia with success as a result.
The elk-continuance in Scandinavia appears endangered not thanks to strict precautions, in the opposite, the animals multiplied partially so strongly that they mean a serious danger for the traffic if they look for the proximity of human settlements in the winter as well as. into the valleys down-climbs.
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