Environmental Issues in Northern Ontario
Elk Restoration in Ontario
Biology
Elk are large animals with conspicuous
ears and a small (12.4 to 19.8 cm long) beige tail. Bulls are 25% larger
than cows. They are taller, bigger boned, and more heavily muscled. This
size difference is mainly due the male sex hormones, that help govern
growth and development.
Bulls weigh between 275 and 500 kilograms
and average about 320 kg. Cows generally weigh between 205 and 300 kg
and average about 225 kg. Newborn calves average 14 kg. Elk weigh the
most at the end of the summer.
Mature elk vary in height between 1.4 and
1.7 metres at the shoulder. Males average 30 cm. taller than females.
The length of mature animals varies between 2.1 and 2.4 metres.
Elk have a dark reddish-brown body with
the bulls having a chestnut-brown neck and mane. In late summer, the
coat changes to its brownish-gray winter color. Elk have a distinctive
rump patch described as gray, pale yellowish, buffy-white, or whitish
which extends above the beige tail. The rump patch of cows is lighter
than that of bulls. The rump patch becomes straw-colored as elk become
older.
Calves are born in early June and are
spotted from birth until late summer. Cows have only single calves and
not necessarily every year.
Food and Habitat Requirements
Elk are both grazers and browsers. They
forage in open areas including natural forest openings, clearcuts and
burns. Open grassy habitats are significant during spring and fall when
cool season grasses are actively growing. Elk also show a strong
preference for recent cutover areas which provide high volumes of forage
biomass (both herbaceous and woody vegetation).
During the summer, when the growth of
grass slows, elk eat forbs, woody twigs, leaves, and warm season grasses
when available. Elk are often associated with the forest edge at this
time. Open areas are also used for social reasons during the rut.
During winter, elk forage on all
available forage types (often digging through snow to reach buried
forbs, grasses, etc.). As winter progresses elk are more associated with
thermal cover and largely consume woody browse.
In Ontario, researchers have found that
elk make extensive use of wetlands during spring and early summer, and
that elk continue to feed close to the ground until snow depths exceed
about 50cm or until persistent crusts form, making digging difficult.
Elk frequently seek out acorns (Quercus
spp.) and consume a variety of grasses (Gramineae). Once digging becomes
difficult, or ground sources of food have been depleted, elk switch to
woody browse.
Toward the end of winter, elk move into
lowland conifer swamps where they browse on eastern white cedar (Thuja
occidentalis). Recent work on food habits indicate that red maple (Acer
rubrum), willows (Salix spp.), beaked hazel (Corylus cornuta), and
various species of aspen and poplar (Populus spp.) are also important
winter foods. The rock tripe (Umbilicaria mammulata) is an important
winter food of the herd at the French River.
A number of researchers have suggested
that roads and other forms of human activity have significant effects on
elk habitat use.
