Independent Research Projects on our Animal of Study: ElkLisa
Gelasco - St. Brendan School Our
Early Childhood Class brainstormed various animals that live in Canada.
We chose to study one animal from our brainstormed list.
The children voted to study Elk. Many
of our students completed internet searches on the Elk. The students printed off information from the internet sites
and presented the information they gained to the class. Many families also brought in real life photos of Elk. Check
out these sites for more information: http://www.canadianrockies.net/Banff/bnpwbios.html David
brought in a video from the Public library called “Mother Nature-Tales
of Discovery Antlers Big and Small” 599.65ANT KellyKelly
chose to put her research into a report format.
She made a title page with self drawings of Elk.
In her report, she included real life photos of Elk and research.
The
American elk-or Wapiti the Shawnee Indians they called it Wapiti means
“pale” or white. Wapiti
is smaller than the European elk. The
male stands about 5 1/2 feet high at the shoulders weight about 700 lbs.
Their antlers grow more than 4 feet in length.
The female’s antlers are smaller.
The colour in the winter is reddish-brown, in the summer they get
lighter. They like bushes
more than the ground. Their
antlers are for other animals to stay away and people too.
Some elk are found in Canada and United States including Alaska.
A male that has seven points-horns are good for hunting tender
meat. And also good for you
all natural meat. By,
Kayla and Kelly Symarah’s
mother wrote our class a short story on Elk
No Sense in Butting Heads
One
thing I learned while living in the town of Banff is patience.
With all those people coming to visit a little tourist town in
the mountains, it sure can be hard getting around on the streets.
But sometimes, as I learned, that can be a good thing.
One day while I was in a hurry walking home, something unexpected
happened. I was just about
to enter the lane I normally take as a short cut, when I noticed a small
motor home just sitting there, blocking most of the lane.
“Oh silly tourist” I thought, “They must be lost”.
Slowing down. I rounded the corner to walk into the lane and
stopped abruptly in my tracks. There,
ten feet in front of me was a monstrous bull elk.
His rack was at least six feet tall in full length.
Did I mention this was in the fall; that means rutting season.
Slowly I backed up until I reached the street and then ran to the
other side, and hid behind a car. A
moment later, this magnificent beast entered the street.
Boy, was I ever scared. But
luckily for me I hadn’t startled him too much because he went on his
merry old way, like a King who ruled the land.
As for me, well, I was much more tolerant with the lost tourists,
after all there’s no sense in butting heads. I’d leave that to the
Elk. By,
Trisha Travers Sydney
Sydney
brought in Elk horns. Here is a picture and background about the horns.
Our class really enjoyed having the Elk horns in our room.
We used them to help visualize the size of Elk. Background InformationThis
Elk was taken the Fall of 1995. In
the area North of Coalvalley, Alberta. (Coalvalley is just East of
Jasper) This Elk weighed in
at about 650 lbs and was 4 years old.
Sydney’s
dad has had these Elk horns mounted in his garage since that time to
hang coveralls. These horns
are older than Sydney by 1 year.
Brandon Brandon
chose to do a report on the Elk. (Elk)
(Wapiti) Common
in the meadows and open forests of the mountains and foothills, the Elk
is almost gone from the prairies; the population in Elk Island National
Park is one of the few that remains. Female Elk and young are often seen in social herds.
They like to feed in forest openings and in meadows.
Look for Elk tracks in the soft mud beside summer ponds, where
they like to drink and splash around. (Similar
species): Deer prints can be similar but are generally smaller.
Moose prints are similar but larger. (Size-bull
cow) 4-5 feet – height 6.5-10 feet- length (Weight)
500-1000 pounds
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