Elk of Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park

60 images of Elk in the Mammoth Hot Springs area of Yellowstone National Park.
Most of these images were taken in the hills to the southeast of Lower Mammoth,
between Sheepeater Canyon and Undine Falls, south of the Grand Loop Road.

Most of the wildlife images from Yellowstone were prepared without title bars.

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Charger: a Bull Elk Elk of Mammoth Hot Springs Miscellaneous Elk

Images in this section are in three different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Elk Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Charger: a Bull Elk Elk of Mammoth Hot Springs Miscellaneous Elk

Elk Mammoth Hot Springs 9978

A female elk rests on the grass near the Mammoth Hot Springs hotel while waiting for her suite.

Elk Confrontation Mammoth Hot Springs 8805

Two bull elk spar for dominance at dawn, during the September rut in Mammoth Hot Springs.

Elk at Dawn Mammoth Hot Springs 8812

Elk at Dawn Mammoth Hot Springs 8818

135mm portraits of a six point bull elk at dawn taken from a close distance in Mammoth Hot Springs.

Elk at Dawn Mammoth Hot Springs 8831

A 90mm extreme close portrait of a six point bull elk at dawn in Mammoth Hot Springs.
Elk who hang around Mammoth Hot Springs are used to people and can be approached.

The elk in Yellowstone National Park are Rocky Mountain Elk, one of four subspecies in North America.

Elk at Dawn Mammoth Hot Springs 1227

A 6 point bull elk in Mammoth Hot Springs at dawn, with the conical shape of Liberty Cap
in the distance behind the elk. Scenic images of the Mammoth Hot Springs area and many
of the other areas of Yellowstone National Park can be seen in the Wyoming Scenic section.

Elk Dawn Portrait Lower Mammoth 7523

Elk Dawn Portrait Lower Mammoth 7525

Close portraits of a bull elk at dawn, taken in the hills southeast of Lower Mammoth.

Elk at Dawn Lower Mammoth 7529

A bull elk at dawn, taken in the hills southeast of Lower Mammoth.

Elk are one of the largest animals in the deer family, and are only surpassed by the moose. Elk
were originally named by early European explorers who thought that they resembled a moose,
so they gave it the name elk which was the common name for European moose. The native
Shawnee name for the animal was Wapiti (literally: white rump), and this name is used for
Asian subspecies because in Eurasia the name Elk is still used for the Eurasian moose.

Elk Bugling at Dawn Lower Mammoth 7532

Elk Bugling at Dawn Lower Mammoth 7702

Bull elk bugling at dawn. Elk bugle in different ways for several reasons: to communicate to their
harem that they are in the area, to warn the cows that they are straying too far, and aggressive calls
to other bulls that they are getting too close to the harem or as a challenge to the other bull elk. The
sound of a bugling elk is distinctive, beginning low in the throat and rising to a whistling scream,
then falling to a series of hollow grunts. The primal scream of the bugling elk is as identifiable
as the sound of a howling wolf. It awakens ancient aboriginal memories and once you have
heard this haunting cry you will never forget it. Female elk (cows) are attracted to bulls
which bugle louder and more often, so during the fall rut the sound is omnipresent.

Elk at Dawn Lower Mammoth 9937

A close portrait of a bull elk at dawn, in the hills southeast of Lower Mammoth in northern Yellowstone.

Images in this section are in three different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Elk Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Charger: a Bull Elk Elk of Mammoth Hot Springs Miscellaneous Elk

Elk at Dawn Lower Mammoth 0026

Elk at Dawn Lower Mammoth 0029

500mm telephoto close portraits of a six point bull elk in the hills southeast of Lower Mammoth at dawn.

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A six point bull elk poses at dawn in the hills southeast of Lower Mammoth.
The 6 points refer to the number of tines on each side of the bull elk’s antlers.

Antlers grow from two pedicles, which are specialized bone-follicles on the head. Every spring, layers of cartilage called velvet antlers grow from the pedicles. Antlers grow faster than any other animal bone, and can grow up to an inch a day. They are covered with velvet, a vascular skin which provides blood, nutrients and growth hormone to the developing antler. Antlers grow from the tip, and the cartilage below is gradually mineralized into bone. Once the antler has reached full size, the velvet falls away or is rubbed off, and the bone dies. The mature antler retains grooves showing the path of blood vessels from the velvet, and North American Elk antlers can weigh up to 40 pounds and have a spread as wide as four feet.

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A bull elk poses and bugles at dawn in the hills southeast of Lower Mammoth in northern Yellowstone.

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A bull elk shows off his magnificent rack of antlers at dawn in Yellowstone National Park.

Antlers differ from Horns in several ways:

Horns are a layer of Keratin (like fingernails and hair) over a living bony core. Antlers are true bone structures.
Horns are slow-growing and permanent (not shed each year). Antlers are fast-growing and are shed each year.
Horns are usually grown by both sexes. Antlers are usually grown only by males (except for reindeer or caribou).
Horns are usually single tines, often curved or spiral, and exhibit annual growth rings indicating an animal’s age.
Antlers are associated with testosterone and are often branched. The number of tines do not indicate the age.

Elk at Dawn Lower Mammoth 0109

A bull elk poses for the photographer at dawn in the hills southeast of Lower Mammoth in Yellowstone.

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A bull elk spreads his scent in the bushes at the edge of his territory at dawn.

All of the landscape (horizontal) large version images linked from the thumbnails are 1500 pixels wide.
Portrait (vertical) images are 1200 pixels tall (1290 pixels with title bar). Images designated with an “M”
in the shot number are 5:4 aspect ratio, 1500 x 1290 with a title bar, or 1500 x 1200 without the title bar.

Images in this section are in three different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Elk Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Charger: a Bull Elk Elk of Mammoth Hot Springs Miscellaneous Elk

Elk Dawn Portrait Lower Mammoth 0161

A bull elk smiles for a 500mm close portrait at dawn on a cold morning
in the hills southeast of Lower Mammoth in Yellowstone National Park.

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Elk Dawn Portrait Lower Mammoth 0194

500mm close portraits of a bull elk at dawn in the hills southeast of Lower Mammoth in Yellowstone.

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A bull elk watches the rising sun light the valley below from a hill southeast of Lower Mammoth.

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A bull elk climbs to the top of a hill to pose for a portrait as the rising sun paints the valley below.

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A bull elk poses at the top of a hill with cows and a juvenile at dawn in northern Yellowstone.

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A bull elk bugles while standing with cows and a juvenile atop a hill southeast of Lower Mammoth at dawn.

Elk bugle during the rutting period which occurs from late August through early October. The breeding
period, or rut, occurs primarily in September, but may begin in mid-August or extend into mid-October.

Elk Herd at Sunrise Lower Mammoth 0233

A bull elk drives his harem across a valley at sunrise in the hills southeast of Lower Mammoth.

During the breeding period, a mature elk can acquire a harem of up to thirty or more cows, about
half of which are in prime breeding condition. There may also be a yearling bull (known as a spike
for its single point antlers) or an older but less mature hanger-on, a young bull who is attracted to
the herd but is subordinate to the dominant bull. This herding pattern only occurs during the rut.

During the summer, cows, calfs and yearlings usually run in large herds, and bulls are either
solitary or run in small groups of two or three. In the winter, bulls congregate in bands known as
bachelor groups, and the cows, calves and immature bulls run in herds numbering in the hundreds.

Elk in the Greater Yellowstone area take part in the longest elk migration in the continental US.
Elk in the southern Yellowstone area migrate to Jackson Hole, WY to winter in the Elk Refuge.
Elk in the northern areas of Yellowstone migrate to lower altitudes in north and west Montana.

Images in this section are in three different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Elk Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Charger: a Bull Elk Elk of Mammoth Hot Springs Miscellaneous Elk

Elk Drinking at Dawn Lower Mammoth 7647

A bull elk taste-testing a muddy wallow at dawn in the hills southeast of Lower Mammoth.

Bulls pee in muddy wallows and coat themselves in urine “perfume” to attract cows during the rut.

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The bull elk, now thoroughly coated with “perfume”, heads off to gather in more cows for his harem.

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A bull elk bugles while standing amongst females in his harem in the Lower Mammoth area at dawn.

Elk at Dawn Lower Mammoth 7668

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A bull elk bugles near some of the cows in his harem on a cold morning in the Lower Mammoth area.
At right, the dominant bull is approached by a hanger-on, a subordinate bull who is attracted to the herd.

Elk at Dawn Lower Mammoth 7677

A dominant bull (at left) and a subordinate “hanger-on” at dawn in the hills southeast of Lower Mammoth.

Elk at Dawn Lower Mammoth 7711

Elk at Sunrise Lower Mammoth 7726

A bull elk watches the dawn transition to sunrise in the Lower Mammoth area of Yellowstone National Park.

Elk at Sunrise Lower Mammoth 7745

A bull elk in the golden light of sunrise, in the hills southeast of Lower Mammoth in northern Yellowstone.

Elk at Sunrise Lower Mammoth 7778

An 850mm close portrait of a bull elk at sunrise in the Lower Mammoth area of Yellowstone National Park.

Elk Bugling at Sunrise Lower Mammoth 7781

A bull elk bugles at sunrise for an 850mm telephoto close portrait taken in the Lower Mammoth area.

Images in this section are in three different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Elk Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Charger: a Bull Elk Elk of Mammoth Hot Springs Miscellaneous Elk

Elk in Cottonwoods Lower Mammoth 8018

A 500mm telephoto scenic of two bull elk in the cottonwoods in the hills southeast of Lower Mammoth.

Elk in Cottonwoods Lower Mammoth 8025

Bull elk in the cottonwoods at dawn, in the Lower Mammoth area of Yellowstone National Park.

Elk at Sunrise Lower Mammoth 8032

Two bull elk traverse the scrub in the hills southeast of Lower Mammoth at sunrise.

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Elk in the scrub at sunrise in the Lower Mammoth area of Yellowstone National Park.

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A bull elk grazes in the scrub, then climbs a hill southeast of Lower Mammoth at sunrise.

Elk at Sunrise Lower Mammoth 8048

A 500mm telephoto close portrait of a bull elk in the scrub southeast of Lower Mammoth at sunrise.

Images in this section are in three different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Elk Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Charger: a Bull Elk Elk of Mammoth Hot Springs Miscellaneous Elk

Elk at Sunrise Lower Mammoth 8061

Elk Bugling at Sunrise Lower Mammoth 8069

Elk at Sunrise Lower Mammoth 8073

A 500mm telephoto close portrait of a bull elk in the golden light of sunrise in the Lower Mammoth area.

Elk at Sunrise Lower Mammoth 8075

Elk Bugling at Sunrise Lower Mammoth 8076

Elk Bugling at Sunrise Lower Mammoth 8080

A bull elk bugles at sunrise in this close portrait taken in the Lower Mammoth area of Yellowstone.

Elk Grazing at Sunrise Lower Mammoth 8085

A six point bull elk grazes in the scrub in the golden light of sunrise southeast of Lower Mammoth.

Elk at Sunrise Lower Mammoth 8088

A bull elk shows off his antlers at sunrise in the hills southeast of Lower Mammoth in northern Yellowstone.

Images in this section are in three different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Elk Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Charger: a Bull Elk Elk of Mammoth Hot Springs Miscellaneous Elk

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