Elk Gallery #1

This is the first of my three galleries of elk pictures, you may also enjoy the second and third galleries.

An elk bull relaxes in Mammoth Hot Springs at Yellowstone National Park

Evening Prayers

My first thought when I saw this elk sitting in the hot springs was that its antlers must be heavy, as its head kept drooping until its nose pressed into the white mineral powder. It reminded me of when it's a cold winter day and you're sitting in a warm church pew and despite your best efforts, your head keeps drooping forward during the sermon until you realize you're falling asleep and suddenly your head snaps back upright. Well, not me, but some people. I am always paying rapt attention, I am.

Despite clearly being exhausted by the fall rut, when other males in the area started bugling, the bull shook off its weariness and slowly walked into the adjacent meadow to add its voice to the chorus. If you view the larger picture, you can see a light dusting of mineral powder on its nose.

White Spots

During a week of hiking in Yellowstone, I had been too tired to get up early. But on my last day, I forced myself out of bed before sunrise and arrived at Mammoth Hot Springs to find a herd of elk cows and their white-spotted calves had bedded down in a meadow beside the mineral deposits. Some of them were already up and about while some, like me, seemed to want to eke out that last bit of sleep. I'm glad I got up so early, as not only did I enjoy the quiet morning with the elk, but over the next couple of hours I'd see a variety of mothers and their young, from black bears to bison to moose.

A female elk nuzzles her calf in Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park

A white-spotted elk calf in Yellowstone National Park

Two elk bulls with their antlers locked near Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park

Duel at Dawn

Two males gently sparring in the early morning hours of a fall day in Yellowstone's Mammoth Hot Springs. I was surprised to see how closely they watched each other when their antlers were locked and they were pushing each other back and forth, I had assumed that their heads and eyes would be down.

Two elk bulls near Mammoth Hot Springs at Yellowstone National Park

Insults at Dawn

While elk spar during the fall rut, it rarely ends in injury as their fighting adheres to a strict protocol. Antler to antler fighting is acceptable. Antler to face is not. Antler to rear end is right out.

The sparring is preceded by a period of insults. My elk is a little rusty, but I'm pretty sure the elk on the left had just insulted the one on the right with an old elk standby: "Your mother was a moose and your father was a mule deer!" This appeared to fluster the elk on the right, who stammered for a moment before finally just sticking out his tongue, as shown here. It is the ultimate insult, so when the tongue comes out, there's nothing left but fight fight fight!