Re: Words Across the Water

On 28/10/2011 7:33 PM, Mike Lyle wrote:


That's where confusion still reigns a bit: several animals have been
called "elk", including the wapiti, which is a sort of red deer. If an
expert were to say the animal in the picture was a wapiti not a moose,
I'd be more confident; but those antlers certainly look quite like
those of a red deer in velvet, and the muzzle doesn't look heavy and
moosey to me. Do moose have that light-coloured arse-end, like red
deer? Just a suggestion: I don't actually know much about it.

I've never noticed that moose have a light-coloured arse-end. I don't think they do. I was always under the impression that elk, although related to the moose (that well-known road hazard in this part of Canada) are not the same animal. A quick google seems to reveal that I am wrong and the elk and the moose (Alces alces) are the same thing, except for the fact that they live in different parts of the world.

That is, unless you're talking about wapiti (Cervus canadiensis), an animal I am unfamiliar with, but which apparently goes by the name of 'elk' in some parts of Canada.

It's like the whole turnip/rutabaga/swede thing again, and an example of why scientists like to have one scientific name per animal. And even then, they sometimes fight over which ones are really the same subspecies and which ones aren't.

.

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