Roosevelt Elk

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Roosevelt Elk
Alaska Department of Fish & Game

Roosevelt elk (Cervus canadensis roosevelti) herds present in Alaska originated from a transplant of eight calves captured on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State in 1928 and moved to Afognak Island in 1929. Fossil bones indicate that a subspecies of elk once existed in Interior Alaska during the Pleistocene period. In North America, elk are sometimes called wapiti to distinguish them from moose (Alces alces) which are called elk in Europe. Roosevelt elk are larger, slightly darker in color, and have shorter, less symmetrical yet more massive antlers than the Rocky Mountain elk found east of the Cascade mountains in Canada and the United States.

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