WAPITI

also called American Elk (species Cervus canadensis), North American deer, family Cervidae (order Artiodactyla), considered by some authorities to be of the same species as the red deer (C. elaphus) of Eurasia. Once common over most of North America, the elk now is confined to the Rocky Mountains and southern Canada. The second largest living deer, it is exceeded in size only by the moose. The male wapiti may stand taller than 1.5 m (5 feet) at the shoulder and, though it averages about 295 kg (650 pounds), may weigh up to 500 kg (1,100 pounds); the female is shorter and lighter. The coat of the wapiti is light to dark brown with a pale rump patch; the shoulders and neck are covered with long, shaggy, dark brown hair. The male has large antlers, which usually bear five tines and tower about 1.2 m (almost 4 feet) above his head. It is prized as a game animal for trophy heads as well as for its flesh and hide. The wapiti lives in large bands in winter; in summer the bands break up into smaller groups, the older bulls living alone or in groups of two or three. The wapiti requires large amounts of grasses, leaves, and other such food; when natural supplies are low, as in a severe winter, it may resort to cultivated crops, orchards, and haystacks. In the vicinity of civilization, its numbers are sometimes regulated by controlled hunting. The species C. canadensis is often considered to include two other deer, the Tule elk (C. nannodes) and the extinct Merriam's elk (C. merriami). The Tule elk, a California deer, is smaller and lighter in colour than the wapiti.