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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note [French] |
Tierpark Lange Erlen, Basle
Siberian and American Elk (Cervus canadensis), are the second largest species of deer in the world, after the moose (Alces alces). Elk are also referred to as "wapiti", which is from the Native American word waapiti, or "white rump" used by the Shawnee. Elk are widely distributed across North America and Eastern Asia, and have been transplanted to other countries such as New Zealand and Argentina. American elk are not to be confused with the European animal also known as the elk, which is the moose of North America. Early European explorers to North America, who were familiar with the smaller red deer (Cervus elaphus) of Europe, believed that the much larger North American animal looked more like moose, which in Europe is called an elk. The renaming has become part of the common vocabulary of North Americans.
Until recently, the elk and the European red deer were considered the same species, but recent DNA evidence has demonstrated that they are different species. According to the study, another even more closely related species to the elk than the red deer is the sika deer (Cervus nippon) of Asia.
Elk are one of the largest mammals that inhabit North Asia (Southern Siberia, Mongolia), temperate Eastern Asia (including Manchuria, Ussuri Region, Northern China, and Korea), and much of North America. They have a unique mating ritual in which males perform posturing, antler wrestling and especially bugling, a loud series of screams designed to help attract females and to establish dominance over other males. Elk populations are currently increasing in North America, but population figures in Eastern Asia are not well established. In some parts of the world, where elk have been transplanted, they have proven to be highly adaptable and are considered to be an invasive species that may pose a threat to existing endemic species. |
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