What are the adaptations of an elk?

Answer 1

- Sharp hooves to lash out at any predator that endangers its young

- Large antlers in the males to intimidate predators, and other males, making them look much bigger than they are

- Keen sense of smell, sight and hearing to better hear predators approaching

- Ruminants with ability to eat different plants, including their primary diet of grass

- Their ability to shed their antlers and grow new ones

- Long legs for better to outrun a predator

Answer 2

Elk commonly utilize transhumance grazing, where they head up to the high country to graze during the summer months and hit the valleys in the winter to browse shrubs and small trees. Elk are both grazers and browsers, taking advantage of the high quality grasses and forbs that grow in the summer, and the fibrous, but somewhat nutritious browse that is left for them in the winter. Thus their main adaptations are in constraints with their local environment and the topography they live in. Since the majority of elk are found in the montane and foothill regions (historically, though, they used to spread further east and south into the Aspen Parkland and northern edges of the mixed prairie grassland), they utilize these topodaphic sequences in the foothills and montane regions to find the best forage and to find safety in times when cow elk are calving. Calving elk are more at risk for predation--as are their young--if they stay in the valleys where a lot of the main predators can be found. An adaptation to the new or to-be-mothers to dissaud predation to them and their young at such a vulnerable time is to head up the mountain or foothill slopes to calve--and to find more vegetation growing in the higher elevations.