Tule elk

Tule elk
Tule elk bull at San Luis National Wildlife Refuge
Tule elk cow at Tomales Point, Point Reyes National Seashore

Vulnerable  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Genus: Cervus
Species:
C. canadensis
Subspecies:
C. c. nannodes
Trinomial name
Cervus canadensis nannodes
(Merriam, 1905)
Synonyms

Cervus elaphus nannodes

Juvenile Tule elk (Bull) with budding antlers during the Spring
Making rutting call or "bugle"
Herd at Lake Pillsbury near Hull Mountain, Mendocino National Forest in Lake County, California

The tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes) is a subspecies of elk found only in California, ranging from the grasslands and marshlands of the Central Valley to the grassy hills on the coast.[2] The subspecies name derives from the tule (/ˈtuːliː/), a species of sedge native to freshwater marshes on which the tule elk feeds. When the Europeans first arrived, an estimated 500,000 tule elk roamed these regions, but by 1870 they were thought to be extirpated.[2] In 1874–1875 a single breeding pair was discovered in the tule marshes of Buena Vista Lake in the southern San Joaquin Valley.[3] Conservation measures were taken to protect the species in the 1970s.[4] Today, the wild population exceeds 4,000.[5] Tule elk can reliably be found in Carrizo Plain National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore, portions of the Owens Valley from Lone Pine to Bishop, on Coyote Ridge in Santa Clara Valley, San Jose, California and in Pacheco State Park and areas surrounding San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos, California.

  1. ^ NatureServe. 1988. Cervus elaphus nannodes, Tule Elk. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Available https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.103199/Cervus_elaphus_nannodes. Accessed 9 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Lin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ D.R. McCullough; J. K. Fischer; J. D. Ballou (1996). D.R. McCullough (ed.). From bottleneck to metapopulation: recovery of the tule elk in California, in Metapopulations and wildlife conservation. Covelo, California: Island Press. pp. 375–403. ISBN 978-1-55963-458-8.
  4. ^ Brick, Michael (January 6, 2009). "Bow Hunters' Quest: Stalking an Elk and a Record". New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).