White Spots
A mother nuzzles its white-spotted calf at sunrise near Mammoth Hot Springs at Yellowstone National Park.
Innocence
A white-spotted calf looks up innocently with its large brown eyes.
This is the first of my three galleries of elk pictures, you may also enjoy the second and third galleries.
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White Spots
A mother nuzzles its white-spotted calf at sunrise near Mammoth Hot Springs at Yellowstone National Park.
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Innocence
A white-spotted calf looks up innocently with its large brown eyes.
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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.
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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! |
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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 would be 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'm always paying rapt attention, yes sirree.
When other males in the area started bugling, the elk shook off its sleepiness and slowly walked into the adjacent meadow to add its voice to the chorus. On the larger picture, you can see the light dusting of mineral powder on its nose. |