|
|
|
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM & PAT LEESON
Bugle call
STORY BY SEAN DE FRANK
The coming of fall means temperatures are cooling, but another season is just heating up ‹ and with it come the fierce clashing of antlers and the high-pitched bugle of male elk. Among the most majestic animals of the Southwest, elk live in high country most of the year. Mating season brings them to lower elevations in autumn, the best time to view them in a natural environment.
The elk's distinctive coloring earned it the name wapiti, a Shawnee word meaning "white rump." Mating season, also known as the rut, begins in late August and continues in November. Bulls joust with antlers that can reach five feet in length, and winners accumulate harems usually numbering 10 to 15 cows. The clearest signal that the rut has started is the bull elk's haunting bugle, which is fueled by an increase in the animal's testosterone level. Bulls bugle as a way to attract females and to challenge other males in the area.
"When I hear it, to this day, it'll make the hair on the back of my neck stand up," said Patrick Cummings, a biologist for the Nevada Division of Wildlife. "It is loud and carries a long distance, and it is a sound unlike any other you've ever heard. ... It'll definitely get your attention."
...
|
|
|
The March/April 2003 Issue is out. Find it at Las Vegas bookstores today.
|
|
marketplace