Also in Europe, the red deer is considered the same species as North America's elk, which doesn't help matters. Elks' body lengths range from six and three quarters to nine and three quarters feet, while they stand four and one-half to five feet tall. Adult males weigh six hundred to one thousand pounds or more, and females weigh between four hundred and fifty to six hundred pounds. In late spring they molt or shed their tan winter coats for reddish brown coats. The small whitish tail is surrounded by a yellowish white rump patch that is bordered by darker hairs.
Bulls have a dark shaggy mane that covers their necks.
When the antlers have completed the growth, the velvet is shed. After the mating season, the antlers themselves are shed. At one time, elk ranged over most of southern Canada and the United States, even the plains states. Overhunting caused a drastic decline in the populations, and by 1900, they had disappeared from ninety percent of their range. Today, elk are found mostly in the Intermountain West states of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado as well as along the Pacific edge states, Canada, and a few other states like Kentucky and Minnesota.