The elk bulls and red deer stags canĪlso breed the related (and much smaller) sika hinds (The cross cannot go the other way because the tiny sika stags could never mount the huge females.) The male elk-red deer hybrid is a "red stag" (instead of red deer stag), and the hybrid of a sika and elk is called a "silk" deer.įarming and introductions outside of their natural ranges have caused Red deer and elk interbreed, but like most hybrids their instincts are criss-crossed and they don't usually In several ways, including hoarse, thunderous mooing like a cow, or whining when annoyed The red deer can make shrill calls too, but when they do roar it's boneĬhilling and sounds like an enormous lion. The bull elk's call is a deep, shrill bugle that resonates using his two ivory teeth in the upper jaw, while the red deer's call is a roar. The male red deer (and sika) is a "stag" and the female red deer (and sika) is a"hind". Compare his redder color and smaller rump patch to the elk's.Īnd the female is a cow. It was probably brought over from Europe though and not a true native.įor breeding red deer, but actually has no native deer. The only deer in Africa is the red deer, known as a Barbary stag. Because our elk is actually the most eastern form of the red deer, it is considered to be an Old World deer, and it's the largest of them all. The west in Great Britain, across Europe, and to Russia and China where the red deer are the largest. There are different races, and they get bigger as you go from But we just can't seem to give up calling them elk.Ĭome from Europe, Asia and the British Isles. Term "wapiti" was proposed back in 1806 to replace "elk". ![]() Elk is the term for the moose in the Old World, but here in America it was incorrectly Name of "wapiti" because of an old mistake in naming them. Our elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis) are the same species (The words "Linnaeus" and "canadensis" refer to subspecies, but the species name for both deer is elaphus.) Some scientists though think there are so manyĭifferences between them that they should be separated. You can see the large, tan rump patch characteristic of the elk.Įuropean red deer ( Cervus elaphus Linnaeus 1758 ) and Photo graphic images and species info RED Hunting elk and red deer, Cervus elaphus, in Florida.
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