Land Mammals
Wildlife Campbell River
Northern Vancouver Island stretching from Campbell River to Cape Scott encompasses over 12,000 square kilometers of wilderness. Although the white man’s occupation of Vancouver Island and in particular the Northern shores of the Island is short in history, the First Nations tribes lived here in harmony with the nature and wildlife for thousands of years, honoring and harvesting only what was necessary to live.
Until recently a great deal of the North Island was undisturbed owing to the shear immensity of the wilderness and the impenetrability of access. Transacted by rugged mountains, veined by raging rivers, encircled by traitorous ocean currents, it is no wonder that this inhospitable environment was so long left alone by the white man.
Only when the riches concealed in this wilderness were reveled, did the wilds arise to be thoroughly explored and exploited. Even today the total human population of Vancouver Island is less than 600,000 people, in comparison to England which is much the same size; this is representative of less than 2% of the entire British population. Here on Vancouver Island the majority of the residents live in the most southerly reaches in the City of Victoria to Nanaimo.
Combined, these ingredients suggest a receipt for the success and proliferation of a multitude of species of birds, mammals, reptiles and marine wildlife in perfect balance. Today Vancouver Island north is as abundant in wildlife species as it was over 200 years ago.
There is much to see here and viewing opportunities are readily available. I anticipate that you will enjoy yourself perusing through the following pages in an effort to educate on our astonishing wildlife as much as I did in the researching and writing about it.
Vancouver Island Honey Bee
Beekeepers in all western countries have been reporting declines of stocks for many years, apparently due to changes in agricultural practices and climate change. In early 2007, European colonies were subject to abnormally high die-offs (30-70% of hives); such a decline seems unprecedented in recent history. This occurrence has been dubbed "Colony Collapse Disorder” or CCD; it is unclear whether this occurrence is an accelerated phase of the general decline due to more adverse conditions in 2006, or a novel phenomenon. Research has so far failed to determine what causes it, but the weight of evidence is tentatively leaning towards CCD being a syndrome rather than a disease as it seems to be caused by a combination of various contributing factors rather than a single pathogen or poison.
Life cycle:
As in a number of types of bees, a colony generally contains one queen bee, (a fertile female) seasonally up to a few thousand drone bees or fertile males; and a large seasonally variable population of sterile female worker bees.
Eggs are laid singly in a cell in a wax honeycomb, produced by the worker bees. Larvae are initially fed with royal jelly produced by worker bees, later switching to honey and pollen. The exception is a larva fed solely on royal jelly, which will develop into a queen. The larva undergoes several molting's before spinning a cocoon within the cell, and pupating. Drones hatch from unfertilized eggs, females (Queens and worker bees) hatch from fertilized eggs. The queen chooses to fertilize the egg she is laying.
Worker bees clean the hive and feed the larvae, when their royal jelly producing glands begin to atrophy, they begin building comb cells, progressing to other within-colony tasks as they become older, such as receiving nectar, pollen from foragers, and guarding the hive. Later, a worker will take their first orientation flight and finally leave the hive and spend the remainder of their life as a forager.
Worker bees cooperate to find food and use a pattern of "dancing" (known as the bee-dance or waggle dance) to communicate information regarding resources with each other.
Virgin Queens go on mating flights away from their home colony, and mate with multiple drones before returning, these drones die in the act of mating.
Colonies are established not by solitary queens, as in most bees, but by groups known as "swarms", which consist of a mated queen and a large contingent of worker bees. This group moves en masse to a nest site that has been scouted by worker bees beforehand. Once a suitable home is found, they immediately begin to construct a new wax comb to raise a new worker brood.
Pollination:
Species of Apis are generalist floral visitors, and will pollinate a large variety of plants, but by no means all plants. Of all the honey bee species, only Apis melliferahas been used extensively for commercial pollination of crops and other plants. The value of these pollination services is commonly measured in the billions of dollars annually.
Honey:
Honey is the substance made when the nectar and sweet deposits from plants and trees are gathered, modified and stored in the honeycomb as a food source for the colony. All living species of Apis have had their honey gathered by indigenous peoples for consumption, though for commercial purposes only a few species have been exploited to any degree.
Beeswax:
Worker bees of a certain age will secrete beeswax from a series of glands on their abdomens. They use the wax to form the walls and caps of the comb. As with honey, beeswax is gathered for various purposes.
Pollen:
Bees collect pollen and carry it back to the hive. In the hive, pollen is used as a protein source necessary during brood-rearing.
Large Land Mammals
Beaver (disambiguation)
Description:
Beaver prominently displays a powerful set of front teeth, webbed hind feet, and a broad, scaly tail. They have poor eyesight but a keen sense of hearing, smell and touch, and un unusual square nasal opening. Beavers continue to grow throughout their lifetimes with adult specimens weighing over 25 kilograms. Females are as large as, or larger than the males of the same age which is uncommon among mammals. Fur color is generally pale brown with a quarter of the species being reddish brown and a lesser number dark brown to blackish. The beaver is considered to be the second largest rodent in the world and is closely related to squirrels.
Behavior:
Beavers are a primarily nocturnal, a semi-aquatic species of rodent. They are most commonly celebrated for their ability to build dams, canals and lodges which serve as their homes. Colonies create one or more dams to provide still, deep water to protect against predators and to float food and building material.
To begin construction on a dam; first they place vertical poles and then fill between the vertical poles with a crisscross of horizontally placed branches, they fill in the gaps between the branches with a-mishmash of weeds and mud until the dam holds back sufficient water to surround the lodge.
When startled or frightened, a swimming beaver will rapidly dive while forcefully slapping the water with its broad tail. This danger signal creates a large slap sound audible over great distances above and below the water level.
Diet:
Powerful front teeth are used to cut trees such as birch, poplar and willow trees in addition to plants that are used for construction and for food. Beavers do not hibernate during the winter; however they do compile a store of sticks and logs in piles in their ponds. Canadian beavers’ preferred food is water lilies, which grows at the bottom of lakes and rivers, with the added addition of berries in the summertime.
Reproduction:
Mating occurs once a year, with two to four kits being born. The young stay with the parents for up to one year, the high mortality rate of the beaver insures that only one kit survives to breed.
Habitat:
Swampy marsh lands, usually near or in slow running water, the riparian zone inclusive of the stream bed. Considered a cornerstone species, beavers assist nature in the ecosystem by creating wetlands that are used by many other species. Next to humans, no other extant animal appears to do more to shape its own landscape.
As a National Emblem:
The importance of the Beaver in the development of Canada through the fur trade led to its designation as the national animal. To this date it is depicted on the Canadian nickel and was on the first pictorial postage stamp issued in the colonies in 1849.
Beavers and Salmon, Hand in Hand:
Beaver ponds provide a nursery for salmon. In 1818 an agreement was made between the British government of Canada and the government of America allowing Americans access to the Columbia watershed for the purpose of harvesting the beaver for their fur. Excessive trapping ensued, although the beaver was the first to go, the salmon run also fell precipitously in the following years as a direct result.
The function beaver dams perform in increasing salmon runs are many, they provide deep enough water for juveniles to hide from predatory birds, they trap nutrients in their ecology and notably the huge nutrient thrust represented by the migration of the adult salmon upstream. These nutrients help feed the juveniles after they burst their yolk, they provide quiet water so that the young salmon can funnel energy into growth rather than fighting currents, and they supply the larger smoltz with a food reserve to provide them with a better chance when they reach the sea. Beaver dams also keep the water clear which favors all salmonoids and trout.
Black-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus)
Description:
Smaller than the parent species of mule deer on the mainland, the Vancouver Island black-tailed deer is identified by a small black tip on the end of its tail. All males have antlers that are shed and re-grown every year, sometimes but rarely a female will have a small stub. Antlers grow as highly vascular spongy tissue covered in a skin called velvet. These antlers are divided or forked as they grow, rather than branching form a single main stem. Instead of running a signature mark of the black-tailed deer is their bounding leap with all four feet making contact with the ground at one time.
Brownish in color, with a common white butt patch, young are born with spots which they lose in their first 3 weeks, and a black nose with while markings around the face and eyes which become more pronounced as they mature. The mature black-tailed deer reach a size on average of 80 to 85 centimeters to the shoulders and stretching 150 centimeters from the nose to the tail. An adult buck will weigh from 45 to 80 kilograms.
Habitat:
This species thrives on the edge of the forest, as the deep forest lacks the food preferences of the dense underbrush and grasslands. Logging slash also provides ample food supply along with protection against predators.
Diet:
Deer are selective feeders. They are usually browsers, and primarily feed on leaves. They have small, unspecialized stomachs, and high nutrition requirements, rather than digest large quantities of low-grade, fibrous food; deer select easily digestible shoots, young leaves, fresh grasses, soft twigs, fruit, fungi and lichens and if available Roses from you garden.
Behavior:
In summer, the black-tailed deer chiefly forages on herbaceous plants, but also on blackberry, huckleberry, salal and thimble berry. In season they prefer acorns and apples, rarely do they travel far from water and tend to bed down within easy walking distance to both. Young deer tend to forage together in family groups while bucks travel alone or with other bucks. The most active foraging occurs during dawn and dusk; they tend to bed down in protected areas mid-day but will also forage at night in more open areas.
Reproduction:
Mating occurs in mid-November to the end of December and a litter can contain one to three spotted fawns which are born in late spring to early summer. At the beginning of the mating season the antlers calcify and become hard bone. The velvet is then rubbed off leaving dead bone which forms hard antlers, after mating season the antler base separates and the antler falls off.
When the winter weather is poor and food is scare, mortality can be high, predation by cougars and wolves also put pressure on the populations. On Vancouver Island black-tailed deer are very common, tolerant of humans and can be serious garden pests, while selecting only the choicest morsels of your favorite flowers or newly sprouted vegetables.
Cougar or Mountain Lion (Puma concolor)
Also known as the Puma.
Description:
Slender and agile cats, adults stand 60 to 76 centimeters tall at the shoulder. Adult males’ length ranges from 1.5 to 2.75 meters nose to tail. Adult males average 53 to 72 kilograms; in very rare cases some may reach over 118 kilograms.
The head of this large cat is round and the ears erect, its powerful forequarters, neck and jaw serve to grasp and hold large prey. It has five retractable claws on its forepaws and four on its hind paws, cougar coloring is plain but can vary greatly between individuals. The coat is typically tawny, but ranges to silvery-grey or reddish, with lighter patches on the under body including the jaws, chin and throat. Infants are spotted when born, with blue eyes and rings encircling their tails. Juveniles are pale with dark spots remaining on their flanks.
Cougars have large paws and proportionally the largest hind legs in the cat family; this physique allows for great leaping and short sprint ability. The cougar can run as fast as 55 to 72 kilometers per hour, but is best adapted for short, powerful sprints rather than long chases. It is adept at climbing which allows it to evade competitors and can swim when necessary.
Diet:
A cougar will eat any animal it can catch, from insects to large mammals and like all cats it feeds on meat only. The most important aspect of the cougar diet on Vancouver Island is the black-tailed deer; however they will hunt and kill elk and other mammals as well as fish for salmon.
Although capable of sprinting, the cougar is typically an ambush predator, stalking through brush and trees, before delivering a powerful leap onto the back of its prey. Kills are generally estimated at one large animal every two weeks. The kill is dragged to a preferred spot, and then covered with brush, then the cat will return to feed over a period of days, it is noted that unlike Vancouver Island wolves, cougars do not chew and crunch the bones but lick them.
Habitat:
The cougar or puma has the largest range of any wild land animal in North America stretching from northern Canada and the Yukon to the southern Andes. It lives in the dense forest, on mountain slopes and ranges many miles in any direction to feed.
Reproduction:
Females reach maturity between one and a half to three years; they average one litter every two or three years throughout their entire adult reproductive life.
Only the females’ parent the young, they are fiercely protective of their kittens and have been witnessed successfully fighting off grizzly bears in their defense. Commonly a litter will be of two to three kittens however they have been known to have up to six in one litter. Caves and dens under old growth trees provide protection for the litter. Born blind the kittens are dependent on their mother and begin to be weaned at three months of age. After six months the kits begin to hunt on their own and within two years the mother abandons the adolescent to provide for a new litter. Survival rate on a litter is usually one kit.
Life span:
Life expectancy in the wild is between 8 to 13 years.
A Note of Particular Caution:
I have been aware of the disproportional cougar population on Vancouver Island for quite some time, which is due to the immense quantity of clear cut logging, however I noted in my research particularly that all the articles I read, mentioned the proliferation of the big cat on Vancouver Island.
Due to the expanding human population, cougar ranges increasingly overlap with areas inhabited by humans. Attacks on humans are rare as cougar prey recognition is a learned behavior and they do not generally recognize humans as prey. Attacks on people, livestock and pets may occur when the cat habituates to humans or is in a condition of severe starvation. Attacks are most frequent during late spring and summer, when juvenile cougars leave their mothers and search for new territory.
Detailed research into attacks prior to 1991 showed that 64% of all victims – and almost all fatalities – were children. The same study showed the highest proportion of attacks to have occurred are in British Columbia, particularly on Vancouver Island where cougar populations are especially dense.
There is a note of caution to be repeated, when in the Great Outdoors, respect that there are wild animals around and although attacks are rare, there are a few things that you can do to avoid them all together. See hiking and trekking for guidelines.
Vancouver Island Gray Wolf (Canis Lups cressodon)
The Vancouver Island Wolf is a considered to be a subspecies of the gray wolf, endemic to the Island. It is a social animal much like the domestic dog and lives in packs of five to thirty-five individuals. Generally considered to be an endangered subspecies, the wolf is very shy, and is rarely seen by humans. Wolves at the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve in Tofino have been known to attack and kill unguarded domestic dogs.
Description:
The wolf is dog like, medium-sized, the fur coloration varies greatly, running from gray to gray-brown, all the way through the canine spectrum of white, red, brown, and black, grayish-black or white. The height of the animal varies from 0.6 to .95 meters at the shoulder. The weight varies geographically with North American wolves weighing around 35 kilograms, it is noted that most of the wolves I have seen have been quite a bit smaller. Being a sexually dimorphic species the females typically weigh 20% less than males.
Females also have narrower muzzles and foreheads; slightly shorter, smoother furred legs; and less massive shoulders. Gray wolves can measure anywhere from 1.3 to 2 meters from nose to the tip of the tail. The tail accounts for approximately one quarter of overall body length. Gray wolves are built for stamina, possessing features ideal for long-distance travel, narrow chests, powerful backs and legs facilitate efficient locomotion. Trotting at a pace of 10 kilometers per hour they are capable of covering several kilometers when at chase. The front paws are larger than the hind paws, and have a fifth digit, the dew claw, that is absent on the hind paws. Gray wolves molt some of their coats in late spring or early summer
Diet:
On Vancouver Island the wolf's main food sources of food are black-tailed deer and Roosevelt elk. Gray wolves are typically apex predators though not as adaptable as some species, however they will feed on smaller mammals should they require.
Habitat:
Wolves thrive in the temperate forests, mountains, and grasslands of Vancouver Island and the outer islands. Though once abundant over much of North America, the gray wolf inhabits only a small portion of its former range owing to the widespread destruction of its territory, human encroachment of its habitat, and the resulting human-wolf encounters that sparked broad extirpation.
Reproduction:
At birth, wolf pups tend to have darker fur and blue irises that will change to a yellow-gold or orange color when the pups are between 8 and 16 weeks old.
Mating occurs between January and April, with a pack producing a single litter unless the breeding male mates with one or more subordinate females. During the mating season, breeding wolves become very affectionate with one another in anticipation of the female's cycle. The gestation period is between 60 and 63 days. The pups, which weigh 0.5 kilograms at birth, are born blind, deaf, and completely dependent on their mother. The average litter size is 5 to 6 pups. The pups stay in the den for two months. Wolf growth rate is slower than that of most wild dogs, they begin eating regurgitated foods after 2 weeks of feeding on milk, and are fully weaned by 10 weeks.
During the first weeks of development, the mother usually stays with her litter alone, but eventually most members of the pack will contribute to the rearing of the pups in some way.
Wolves typically reach sexual maturity after two or three years, at which point many of them will be compelled to leave their birth packs and seek out mates and territories of their own. The average life span is 6 to 10 years.
Vancouver Island Marmot (Marmota Vancouverensis)
Only found in the central mountains of Vancouver Island, this endangered species is one of the rarest animals in North America.
Vancouver Island marmots have disappeared from about two-thirds of their historical natural range on the island within the past several decades, with numbers declining by 70 percent in the last 10 years.
Description:
Marmots are the largest members of the squirrel family and are the size of a house cat or small dog. An adult Vancouver Island marmot typically measures 65 to 70 centimeters from its nose to the tip of its tail, with weights showing great seasonal deviation. An adult female that weighs 3 kilograms when she emerges from hibernation in early spring can weigh 4.5 to 5.5 kilograms by the onset of hibernation in mid September.
Adult males can reach weights of up to 7 kilograms, displaying a rich chocolate brown coat with contrasting patches of white fur on the nose; chin forehead and chest which are the most striking features of the Vancouver Island marmot. Yearlings are typically a uniform faded Rufus color. Up close Vancouver Island marmot have distinctively large, beaver-like incisors, sharp claws and powerful shoulder and leg muscles.
Diet:
Relatively little time is spent feeding, although they eat a wide assortment of plants. In spring, grasses and grass-like plants, including oat-grass, sedges and wood rush, are major dietary choices. In natural sub-alpine meadows, Vancouver Island marmots generally switch from grasses in early spring to Forbes (broadleaf herbs) in late summer. Lupines and peavine make up a high proportion of the summer diet and may be selected because of their high nitrogen content, along with paintbrush, meadowrue, cow parsnip and wooly sunflower. Marmots discriminately consume particular parts of plants, like blueberry fruits, the blossoms of tiger lily, sitka valerian, and bracken fern fiddle heads
Range:
Typical Vancouver Island marmot habitat consists of steeply sloped sub-alpine meadows at 800 to 1500 metes elevation with a south to west-facing aspect.
The Vancouver Island marmot’s current range is very restricted. Most colonies inhabit mountains south of the Alberni Inlet, near the headwaters of the Nanaimo, Chemainus, Nitinat and Cowichan rivers. A lesser population is found on Mount Washington, near Campbell River.
Reproduction:
Most activity takes place below ground, however;mating probably occurs during the first three weeks after emergence from hibernation. The gestation period is estimated to be one month and pups are thought to be born in early June. The males occasionally sire more than one litter in a given year, females are capable of reproducing at maturity which is 3 years however; most do not breed until they are four or five years old, litters contain three to four pups. Newborn pups have uniformly dark, almost black, coats; they first emerge from their burrows in late June or early July.
Mortality of pups in their first year appears to occur during winter hibernation, with only half the pups surviving their first year, as with adults, probability survival is increased if family groups hibernate as a unit in deep burrows for six months or more each year.
It is likely that the maximum age for this species is 12 to 15 years and the females will reproduce for the entirety of their lives.
Behavior:
When alarmed, Vancouver Island marmots give a piercingly loud whistle that sounds very much like a police whistle. Typical marmot behavior involves spending much of the day sprawling or sitting on boulders, logs or stumps, they are good climbers and are often seen ascending or perched atop precipitous cliffs. Peculiar about hygiene, Marmots seem to use particular spots as “latrines” and it is more common to find several scats than just one
Fascinating Finds:
Fascinating finds of marmot bones in several locations on west-central Vancouver Island, where marmot settlements are not known to presently occur, imply that this species may have been more widespread and plentiful in prehistoric times. At a few sites, these marmot bones showed signs of tool markings, providing clear evidence that First Nations people tracked marmots for food, pelts or other uses. Carbon-dating of these bones produced ages of 700 to 2700 years ago. Other sites produced bones without butcher marks that were carbon-dated at up to 11,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age.
The North American Mink (Neovison vison)
Dark-colored, semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, which also includes the weasels and otters, the American mink is larger, and more adaptable than the European mink.
Description:
T
he males weigh about 1 kilogram and are up to 60 centimeters in length. The female weighs about 600 grams and reaches a length of up to 50 centimeters. This does not include the tail which can be from 15 to 25 centimeters long. A rich glossy coat is usually brown to black. Their pelage is deep, rich brown, with or without white spots on the under-parts, and consists of a soft, dense under-fur overlaid with dark, glossy, almost stiff guard hairs.
Breeding and gestation:
The breeding season lasts from April to May. Mink show the curious phenomenon of delayed implantation. Although the true gestation period is 39 days, the embryo may stop developing for a variable period, so that as long as 76 days may elapse before the litter arrives. Between 45 and 52 days is normal. There is only one litter per year. They may have between six and ten cubs or kittens per litter. The average lifespan of a mink is 8 years in captivity; however there is not much evidence of how long they live in the wild, it is suggested that they can reach a ripe old age of 4 years.
Diet:
Mink prey on fish and other aquatic life, small mammals (rabbits especially), and birds, particularly water fowl, the abundance of mink on the Campbell River system prey on crayfish, salmon eggs and the newly hatched Alvin's and salmon fry.
Waterside Habits:
Minks like to live near water and are seldom found far from riverbanks, lakes and marshes. Even when roaming, they tend to follow streams and ditches. Sometimes they leave the water altogether for a few hundred meters, especially when hunting. If something like a large weasel or small otter is seen, near a lake or a river, or on the sea shore, it may well be a mink. Unlike the otter, which is only active at night when there is no danger of human disturbance, the mink is about at all hours, even when people are in evidence.
Territory:
Mink are very territorial animals. A male mink will not tolerate another male within its territory, but appears to be less aggressive towards females. Generally, the territories of both male and female animals are separate, but a female's territory may sometimes overlap with that of a male. Occasionally the female may be totally within a male’s territory which tend to be a long and narrow stretch along river banks, or around the edges of lakes or marshes.
Raccoon (Procyon lotor)
The raccoon, sometimes spelled as raccoon, and also known as the common raccoon, is a medium-sized mammal native to North America.
Description:
With a body length of 41 to 72 centimeters and a weight of 3.6 to 9.0 kilograms, the raccoon is the largest of the procyonid class. The dense under-fur, which insulates against cold weather, accounts for almost 90% of its grayish coat. Two of the most distinctive features of the raccoon are its extremely sensitive front paws and its famous facial mask.
Head to hindquarters, raccoons measure between 41 and 71 centimeters, not including the bushy tail which can measure between 19.2 and 40.5 centimeters in length, however the tail is usually not much longer than 25 centimeters, males are usually 15 to 20% heavier than females. At the beginning of winter, a raccoon can weigh twice as much as in spring due to its fat storage. The slightly rounded ears are also bordered by white fur.
It is assumed that raccoons recognize the facial expression and posture of other members of their species more quickly due to the conspicuous facial coloration and the alternating light and dark rings on the tail. On other parts of the body, the long and stiff guard hairs, which shed moisture, are usually colored in shades of gray and, to a lesser extent, brown.
Behavior:
Though previously thought to be solitary, there is now evidence that raccoons engage in gender-specific social behaviors. Related females often share a common area, while unrelated males live together in groups of up to four animals to maintain their positions against foreign males during the mating season in addition to other potential invaders.
The raccoon can stand on its hind legs to examine objects with its front paws. As raccoons have short legs compared to their compact torso, they are usually not able either to run quickly or jump great distances.
Diet:
Raccoons are omnivorous and usually nocturnal, and their diet consists of about 40% invertebrates, 33% plant foods and 27% vertebrates. The raccoon is sometimes active in daylight to take advantage of available food sources. Since its diet consists of such a variety of different foods, it has been argued that the raccoon "may well be one of the world's most omnivorous animals". While its diet in spring and early summer consists mostly of insects, worms and other animals already available early in the year, it prefers fruits and nuts, such as acorns, and walnuts which emerge in late summer and autumn and represent a rich calorie source for building up much needed fat for winter.
Reproduction:
Raccoons usually mate in late January to mid-March. During the mating season, males roam their home ranges in search of females in an attempt to court them during the three-to four-day-long period when conception is possible. These encounters will often occur at central meeting places. Gestation lasts 63 to 65 days and a litter of two to five young are born.
While male yearlings usually reach their sexual maturity only after the main mating season, female yearlings can compensate for high mortality rates and may be responsible for about 50% of all young born in a year. Males have no part in raising young.
The gestation period lasts 65 days, with two to five young or kits born in the spring. The kits are raised by the female until dispersion in late fall. Their average life expectancy in the wild is 1.8 to 3.1 years. The kits (also called "cubs") are blind and deaf at birth, but their mask is already visible against their light fur with birth length from 9.5 centimeters long kit is usually weighs 60 to 75 grams. The ear canals and eyes open anywhere from 18 to 23 days after birth. Although life expectancy in the wild is only 1.8 to 3.1 years, they have been known to live in captivity for upwards of 20 years.
Roosevelt Elk (Cervus Canadensis roosevelti),
The Roosevelt elk also known as Olympic elk, is the largest of the four surviving subspecies of elk in North America, they live in the rain forests of the Pacific Northwest and Vancouver Island.
Description:
Adults can grow to 1.8 to 3 meters in length and stand .75 to 1.5 meters tall at the shoulder. Elk bulls (males) generally weigh between 300 to 500 kilograms while cows weigh between 260 to 285 kilograms. Some mature bulls have been weighed in at nearly 600 kilograms. The elk is one of the largest species of deer in the world and one of the largest mammals in North America and eastern Asia. Male elk have large antlers which are shed each year.
In the wild, Roosevelt elk rarely live beyond 12 to 15 years, however in captivity they have been known to live over 25 years.
Feeding Habits:
From late spring to early fall, Roosevelt elk feed on herbaceous plants such as grasses and sedges. During the winter months, they feed on woody plants including swamp cranberry, elderberry and devil’s club. Roosevelt elk are also known to eat blueberries, huckleberries, mushrooms and salmon berries.
Elk are ruminants with four chambered stomachs, unlike white-tailed deer and moose which are primarily browsers, elk have a similarity to cattle as they are primarily grazers, however similar to other deer, and they also browse. Elk perform most of their feeding in the mornings and evenings, seeking sheltered areas in-between to digest. Their diets vary somewhat depending on the season; with native grasses being a year round supplement, tree bark as a winter staple and forbs and tree sprouts during the summer. Elk consume an average of 9.1 kilograms of various food stuffs daily.
Range:
On Vancouver Island, Roosevelt elk range in dense forest, they often dwell at higher elevations in summer, migrating down the slopes in winter. Modern subspecies are descended from elk that once inhabited Beringia, a steep region between Asia and North America that connected the two continents during the Pleistocene period. Beringia provided a migratory route for numerous mammal species, including brown bear, caribou, and moose, as well as humans.
Behavior:
Males engage in ritualized mating behaviors during the rut in the fall, including posturing, antler wrestling, and bugling, a loud series of screams which establishes dominance over other males and attracts females, their bugle call is recognized as one of the most distinctive calls in nature.
Adult elk usually stay in single-sex groups for most of the year. During the fall mating period the mature bulls compete for the attentions of the cows and will defend females in their harem. Rival bulls challenge opponents by bellowing and paralleling each other, walking back and forth. This allows potential combatants to assess the others antlers, body size and fighting prowess. If neither bull backs down, they engage in antler wrestling, which is very dangerous and can cause serious injuries and on rare occasions death.
Production and Life Cycle:
By the fall of their second year, females can produce one and very rarely, two offspring, though reproduction is most common when cows weigh a minimum of 200 kilograms. The gestation period is 240 to 262 days and the offspring weigh between 15 and 16 kilograms when born. When birth is eminent, the females tend to isolate themselves from the main herd and remain so, until the calf is large enough to escape predators.
Calves are born spotted, as is common with many deer species, losing their spots by the end of summer. After a few weeks, calves are able to join the herd and are fully weaned at two months. The offspring will remain with their mothers for almost a year, leaving when the time comes for next season's offspring to be born.
Protection from predators:
Male elk retain their antlers for more than half the year and are less likely to group with other males when they have antlers which provide a means of defense, as does a strong front-leg kick, which is performed by either sex if provoked. Once the antlers have been shed, bulls tend to form bachelor groups which allow them to work cooperatively at fending off predators. Scouts are employed while the remaining members eat and rest.
