This small group of young elk (wapiti) are in a field near our home. The cows (female adult elk) are kicking out their last year’s offspring and the youngsters are forming their own small herds. I captured this group of young gals just over a week ago as I was leaving home, heading to Edmonton. It was a very overcast morning and I shot from inside my car because they were already beginning to flee at the sight of my vehicle.
Wapiti is a Shawnee word meaning white rump. Although these photos aren’t the most vivid, if you look closely you’ll see that distinctive white rump. (The photo I linked to below shows the white rump much more clearly.)
The elk are a large member of the deer family and are extremely dangerous in the wild. The adult cows are highly aggressive all year long and the bull elk (males) are dangerous during their rut (breeding season in the autumn). They do a lot of damage to farmer’s land, trees, and are dangerous for those with horses. We have so many elk in our area and they have no predators so their herds are growing by leaps and bounds (pun intended). Wolves are natural predators but we don’t have wolves in our area. I posted another image of these elk at Flickr if you’d like to see that image as well, especially if you want to more clearly see that white rump.
(I haven’t forgotten about the second cupcake post but wanted to share this with you before I forget.)