Elk

[Tony S]

Shoot, I haven't posted and elk picture in a while...

 

[LaFoto]

Nice.
Can I ask you what is the English word for the soft stuff that comes off their antlers in autumn?

 

[pic_chick]

velvet .. I think

 

[LaFoto]

velvet .. I think

Yes, would make sense, as it feels like it when it is still on the antlers. Thank you.

 

[Maneef]

nice

 

[Ulriksen]

Great photo, where is this taken?

 

[brett_93_ex]

Yes it is called velvet. The photo is very majestic. I really like this one.

 

[charlie76]

Oh man...that's a big sucka

 

[Heitz]

What is this...velvet?

 

[Rick58]

Nice shot

 

[Jaemie]

What is this...velvet?

It isn't really velvet. :no smile:

 

[Tony S]

Thanks everyone.

This is the dominant herd bull in the mountains to the north side of Mt St Helens, he's managed to evade the hunters pretty well to get to this size. For those asking about the velvet, antlers are some of the fastest if not fastest growing tissue there is. The antler growth is spurred by hormones that increase when the days get longer, some growing as much as three inches in a day and they are very vascular providing a huge blood flow through them for the growth. Around here about the middle of August the bull elk have another hormonal change that cuts off the blood flow to the antlers and they begin to calcify. The outer sheath, or velvet, is then shed, most often being rubbed off on smaller trees. You can find plenty of these "rubs" in areas where elk are plentiful. Once those antlers harden then more hormones kick in as the elk go through the rutting season where they can loose over half their body weight competing to pass on their genes. Then later in the winter the antlers come off, or shed. I may not have everything stated exactly technically correct, but it gives you the main idea of what goes on. OK, that's it for today's wildlife biology lesson.

 

[Jaemie]

Wow. That's very interesting! Thanks! :thumbup:

 

[LazyFrog60]

Like the picture, very majestic creature! Just a quick question which has nothing to do with photography - you said an "elk". I always thought an elk was the same as a "moose". In Sweden we say "Älg" which is actually a "moose", but considering the similarity in words I also thought "elk" was the same beast???? To me it looks more like a large deer???

 

[LaFoto]

LazyFrog, I had to learn the same when I was in California and people spoke about "elk" referring to an animal that to me looked like a large deer much rather than what is "Elch" in German, "älg" in Swedish, and - so I assumed - "elk" in English. I always thought the difference between an "elk" and a "moose" was that "moose" live in North America, "elk" in Northern Europe, and that moose are a tad larger than the same (European) kind which is a little smaller.
We might be wrong?