The sika deer, also known as the Northernspotted deer or the Japanese deer, is a species of deer native to much of East Asia and introduced to other parts of the world. Previously found from northern Vietnam in the south to the Russian Far East in the north, it is an uncommon species that has been extirpated in most areas of its native range, except in Japan, where it is overabundant and present in very large numbers.
The red deer is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a doe or hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of western Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains of Northern Africa; being the only living species of deer to inhabit Africa. Red deer have been introduced to other areas, including Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Peru, Uruguay, Chile and Argentina. In many parts of the world, the meat (venison) from red deer is used as a food source.
Clinton Hart Merriam was an American zoologist, mammalogist, ornithologist, entomologist, ecologist, ethnographer, geographer, naturalist and physician. He was commonly known as the 'father of mammalogy', a branch of zoology referring to the study of mammals.
The eastern elk is an extinct subspecies or distinct population of elk that inhabited the northern and eastern United States, and southern Canada. The last eastern elk was shot in Pennsylvania on September 1, 1877. The subspecies was declared extinct by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 1880. Another subspecies of elk, the Merriam's elk, also became extinct at roughly the same time.
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, located in southwestern Oklahoma near Lawton, has protected unique wildlife habitats since 1901 and is the oldest managed wildlife facility in the United States Fish and Wildlife Service system. The refuge's location in the geologically unique Wichita Mountains and its areas of undisturbed mixed grass prairie make it an important conservation area. The Wichita Mountains are approximately 500 million years old. Measuring about 59,020 acres (238.8 km2), the refuge hosts a great diversity of species: 806 plant species, 240 species of birds, 36 fish, and 64 reptiles and amphibians are present.
The Roosevelt elk, also known commonly as the Olympic elk and Roosevelt's wapiti, is the largest of the four surviving subspecies of elk in North America by body mass. Mature bulls weigh from 700 to 1,200 lb. with very rare large bulls weighing more. Its geographic range includes temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest including parts of northern California. It was introduced to Alaska's Afognak, Kodiak, and Raspberry Islands in 1928 and reintroduced to British Columbia's Sunshine Coast from Vancouver Island in 1986.
The Kashmir stag, also called hangul, is a subspecies of Central Asian red deer endemic to Kashmir and surrounding areas. It is found in dense riverine forests in the valleys and mountains of Jammu and Kashmir and northern Himachal Pradesh. In Kashmir, it is found primarily in the Dachigam National Park and in Tral Wildlife Sanctuary where it receives protection, and elsewhere it is more at risk. In the 1940s, the population was between 3000 and 5000 individuals, but since then habitat destruction, over-grazing by domestic livestock and poaching have reduced population dramatically. Its population is now grown marginally to 289 in 2023 from 197 in 2004. It is the state animal of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the only surviving Asiatic sub-species of the Red deer family.
The elk, or wapiti, is the second largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The word "elk" originally referred to the European variety of the moose, Alces alces, but was transferred to Cervus canadensis by North American colonists. The name "wapiti" derives from a Shawnee and Cree word meaning "white rump" for the distinctive light fur in the rear region, just like the Bighorn Sheep.
The tule elk 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. The subspecies name derives from the tule, 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. However, in 1874–1875 a single breeding pair was discovered in the tule marshes of Buena Vista Lake in the southern San Joaquin Valley. Conservation measures were taken to protect the species in the 1970s. Today, the wild population exceeds 4,000. 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.
The Rocky Mountain elk is a subspecies of elk found in the Rocky Mountains and adjacent ranges of Western North America.
The Manitoban elk is a subspecies of elk found in the Midwestern United States and southern regions of the Canadian Prairies. In 2001–2002, a breeding population of 52 Manitoban elk was also introduced into the Cataloochee valley of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina to replace a population of Eastern elk which had gone extinct over 100 years prior. As of 2021, the population has grown to 150-200 individuals and has expanded their range outside of their initial protected region. In 2016, one of the elk from the North Carolina herd was spotted in South Carolina, the first time an elk had been seen in that state since the late 1700s.
There are at least 14 large mammal and 50 small mammal species known to occur in Glacier National Park.
There are at least 9 large terrestrial mammals, 50 small mammals, and 14 marine mammal species known to occur in Olympic National Park.
The Tule Elk State Natural Reserve, formerly the Tupman Zoological Reserve, is a protected area operated by California State Parks for the benefit of the general public and the at-risk tule elk subspecies of indigenous Cervus canadensis. There are usually about 30 to 35 tule elk in the conservation herd on the 960-acre (390 ha) reserve in Kern County, California, United States.
