Ecology of a partially migratory elk population ...

• Main Author: Woods, John G.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2011
• Subjects: Canis lupus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0101108; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0101108

In this thesis I investigate the ecology of a partially migratory (<100% of the animals migrate) population of elk (Cervus elaphus) in the Canadian Rockies. I radio-tagged elk in a 330 km² area of the Bow River valley (BRV) in Banff National Park, Alberta and followed them for 36 months. Elk movements to adjacent watersheds expanded the study area to 2900 km². My goals were to describe the seasonal movements made by BRV elk and to reach some understanding of the causes of these movements. The M/R (migrant/resident) ratios for adult bulls and adult cows were 4.3 and 0.5 respectively. Classified ground counts revealed that adult bulls made up only 11% of the population and that the overall M/R ratio for the population was 0.6. Migrations did not take elk beyond the foraging range of timber wolves (Canis lupus), their principal predator. Three cows changed migration status between years and some migrants were sympatric with residents during the rutting (breeding) season. These observations are consistent ...