Adult male elk11/29/2023 ![]() ![]() When animals try to use them as weapons, the consequences can be dire. Two moose, locked together in death, blocking a ditch.īeyond the shock value, these stories provide an insight into an odd quirk of evolution: Fierce-looking antlers exist primarily for display. Three white-tailed deer dead in a stream, antlers twisted in a complicated tangle. Every now and then, grisly photographs appear on the internet: A buck walking around with the head of another male tangled in its antlers. It is not always just a figure of speech. But by the start of autumn, the antlers will be ready for action as male suitors gather to posture, preen and butt heads - a behavior that some people may have in mind when they use the phrase “locking horns.” The animals spend most of the summer grazing, their head weaponry sheathed in fuzzy velvet. He then retreated, circled the three bulls, stalked and killed a yearling bull within 150 yards of the others.As the days of summer pass, the antlers get longer on moose, elk and other animals in the cervid, or deer, family. In Hornocker's study, he observed an interesting and possibly relevant situation involving a 68-kilogram (151lb) tom puma and several bull elk: "This lion stalked three six-point bulls until he was apparently within attacking distance. Regardless of how this turned out, it seems clear the puma was slinking near enough to assess its chances. So who knows whether this puma might have been able to land one of these formidably proportioned elk? In the video, the hunters can be heard speculating the cat might be targeting the smaller-racked, and possibly younger, bull. One study from northeastern Oregon found that most kills of bull elk by pumas (which, again, were primarily toms) took place during or just after the rut. In this diminished condition – and, for that matter, in their distracted state during the breeding season – bulls may be more vulnerable to predation by pumas, as well as wolves and grizzly bears. This time of year, bull elk are just past the significant rigours of the rut – an exhausting season for many of them, as they're constantly occupied holding harems of cows, mating, driving off sneaky rivals trying to dart in for some action, and actively fighting other males – and they're looking to restore at least some of their energy reserves ahead of a tough winter. In a classic study of puma predation in central Idaho, Maurice Hornocker suggested a bull's size was one complicating factor for a hungry puma, but, given that some cow elk reach the proportions of younger bulls and are nonetheless readily preyed upon, the hefty tined antlers of a full-grown male elk (a "branch bull") also probably play a role: "Lions must attack the head region of elk to kill them effectively," Hornocker wrote, "and the heavy antlers may be recognised as formidable weapons." (Toms in general seem to hunt elk more frequently than female pumas regardless of age/size class females, in turn, go after deer more intensively.) Along with the occasional adult moose, they occupy the uppermost end of the puma prey spectrum, and research suggests large male pumas, or toms, are more likely to attack them than female and subadult cats. Mature bull elk, however, are challenging targets. Pumas avidly pursue elk across western North America along with deer, these animals are the big cats' favoured prey in many areas. Conditions look on the breezy side, so it's quite possible the elk had scented the creeping cat. The bulls – one with a significantly bigger antler rack than the other – appear edgy throughout the encounter, staring in the general direction of the puma and ultimately bolting into the timber. We don't know the outcome of this Montana stalk: the YouTuber who posted the video, Montana Sportsman, wrote, "Unfortunately, the cat pushed the elk further onto private property and we never got the chance to see them again." Heck, spotting a mountain lion at all isn't easy: the odd backyard visit notwithstanding, these tawny, ropey big cats – the second-largest felids in the Western Hemisphere after the jaguar – are famously phantom-like, and many human residents of cougar country go a lifetime without seeing one. It was only recently that we featured some dynamite pics from south-central British Columbia showing a puma killing a mule deer, but spotting a mountain lion in predatory performance is far from commonplace.
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