A female elk in the Riding Mountain area, spring 1933
English: Title: The Canadian field-naturalist Identifier: canadianfieldnat1933otta (find matches) Year: 1933 (1930s) Authors: Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club Subjects: Publisher: Ottawa, Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club Contributing Library: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library Digitizing Sponsor: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: November, 1933) The Canadian Field-Naturalist 151 Text Appearing After Image: Female Wapiti in Early Spring, Riding Mountain, Manitoba. favourable opportunity. The question might therefore arise as to whether or not female Wapiti have a period of true oestrum like moose and domestic cattle, or akin to another female ruminant, the camel, depend on fertil- ization from a seasonal sexual activity of the males alone. In other words, while the female organs of reproduction are receptive to copu- lation and fertilization during the period of rut in the males, there is no conscious urge to seek connexion, and participation is a matter of course, unattended by sexual desire in the common acceptance of the term. Among the herds listed, copulation was ob- served on eleven occasions, and at the time Field Note No. 157 was recorded the act was performed by the male thrice within four hours. Considering the length of the rutting period, there is little wonder that the males enter the fray as virile animals in good flesh and retire almost shadows of their former selves. It should, be noted that this observation was made at the beginning of the rutting season when sexual vigour was at its height. Copulation is effected without any amorous preliminaries. Once only was the male ob- served to approach a female near at hand and cover her. The remaining records show a lengthy run from some distance away—^twenty or thirty yards—^with the oopulatary organ partly extended, ending in what would almost seem a collision if the standing female did not sense the approach of the male and walk for- ward to ease the force of the impact. Accur- ate intromission.! is invaria:ble, and the male withdraws almost immediately the female is covered and wanders off among the herd. The testicles are scarcely noticeable until just before the rut, when they then appear to descend lower in the scrotum. Their normal size, judging from those examined in recently killed animals, is that of a pullet's egg. A flaccid penis, dissected from the sheath of an adult male in the spring of the year, measured 15.5 inches in length. At the conclusion of the rut the sexes separ- ate and the males show no further interest in the females until the advent of the next breeding season. With mammals in a wild state it is impos- sible to estimate accurately the period of gestation. A fair approximation, however, can be gained by computing the intervening period between the beginning of the rut and the ap- pearance of the first calves. In 1930 the rut commenced about September 8th and the fol- lowing spring, 1931, the first calf was observed on May 20th. In 1931, the first evidence of the rut was noted on September 12th, and the first calf was seen in the spring of 1932 on Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.