Why is the elk called elk? Wild animal moose: description, pictures, photos, video

The elk, a description of which can be found in almost all reference books for animal lovers, is a large artiodactyl mammal belonging to the genus moose, the deer family.

Experts believe that its name comes from the Old Church Slavonic word “ols,” which refers to the red hair that covers the body of newborn elk calves. Another common name for elk in Rus' since ancient times is elk. Presumably it arose due to the similarity of its horns to a plow.

Where does moose live?

The description of the moose must begin with its habitat. These artiodactyls are widespread in the Northern Hemisphere. By the middle of the 19th century, the large elk population was practically destroyed in Europe, with the exception of Russia. Thanks to conservation measures taken at the beginning of the 20th century, these artiodactyls repopulated Northern and Eastern Europe.

Nowadays, these large animals live in the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Finland), Belarus, northern Ukraine, Hungary and Poland, the Baltic countries (Estonia and Latvia), and the Czech Republic. The largest population is in Russia: from Kola Peninsula before southern steppes. IN North America moose settled in Canada, Alaska, and the northeastern United States.

Reading the description of moose in various sources, we can conclude that these animals live in mixed and coniferous forests with swamps, quiet streams and rivers. In the forest-tundra they prefer aspen and birch forests. The elk are also common along the banks and rivers - in floodplain thickets. In mountain forests they settle in valleys and on gentle slopes.

What does a moose look like? Photo and description

Elk is the largest representative of its family. The height of the animal at the withers ranges from 1.70 to 2.35 meters, body length - 3 meters. The weight of an adult female is 300 kg, and the male is more than six hundred. In appearance, these animals seem clumsy: they have a tall body. Animals have powerful shoulders and chest. but not thin, muscular with narrow and long hooves. The tail is short, but clearly visible.

The head is large and heavy, up to 500 mm long, hook-nosed. Large and mobile ears are located on it. The slightly swollen upper lip hangs noticeably over the lower lip, and under the throat you can see a soft leathery outgrowth - an “earring”, the length of which can reach 40 cm.

Coat

Even short description animal. Elk have a fairly long coat. In winter it grows up to ten centimeters in length. On the neck and withers it is even longer and resembles a mane, up to twenty centimeters long. Sometimes it even seems that the animal has a hump.

The soft fur that covers the head even grows on the lips. Only between the nostrils on the upper lip can you see a tiny bare area.

Color

The moose's fur is black or brownish-black in the upper part of the body. It gradually turns into a brown shade at the bottom. The lower limbs are whitish. In summer, the moose's color darkens.

Horns

Probably everyone who has read the description of elk in reference literature knows that elk have the largest antlers among all mammals. Their span reaches 180 cm and their weight is about 20 kg. The horn consists of a wide and short trunk and a flat, slightly concave blade surrounded by eighteen branches. In animals of different ages the length of the processes, their length, and the size of the shovel itself are different. The older the elk, the more powerful its horns, the wider its shovel, and the shorter its shoots.

A year after birth, moose calves grow small horns. At first they are very soft, covered with delicate skin and silky fur. The horns are pierced with blood vessels, so in a young animal they hurt when insect bites and bleed when wounded. After another two months, the horns harden and their blood supply stops. After five years, moose antlers (antlers) become large and heavy: the shovel expands and the shoots become shorter.

Lifestyle

The description of the moose gives grounds to assert that these animals prefer to be sedentary and move around a little. In search of food, they make short journeys, but remain in one area for a long time. In summer, the territory where moose live and feed is much wider than in winter.

The elk are leaving snowy areas. The first to leave their homes are the moose cows with their calves, followed by the males, as well as the females without offspring. In reverse order, the animals return to their usual habitats. Moose usually live in small groups or alone. Only in winter do they gather in herds in places richer in food. Such places where many individuals accumulate are called a camp in our country, and a yard in Canada. With the arrival of spring, the moose disperse again.

Is it listed in the Red Book?

We have provided you with a brief description of the moose. The Red Book, fortunately, has not yet been replenished with these animals. But since its numbers are still declining, these animals should be protected from poachers. However, the elk is included in the regional Red Books of some regions and republics, where, due to various factors its numbers are quite low. For example, moose is included in the Red Book of the Omsk Region.

Do you know what kind of animal the elk is? Agree, interest Ask. After all, if you think about it, not everyone will be able to define the word “forged,” not to mention what kind of creature such an incomprehensible description refers to. So let's dispel the veil of secrecy and see what kind of beast is hidden behind it.

Sokhaty is...

Let's start with the fact that today this word is practically not used in circulation, since it has long since become obsolete. And yet sometimes it still slips through, especially in works of art and films. Therefore, let’s not delay the answer and say that elk is an elk. Yes, yes, that's right. It is this large beast with huge horns that bears such an incomprehensible nickname.

But why is that? Where did this nickname come from - “forged”: is it a metaphor or a curse? Or maybe there is a certain one behind this misterious story? But in reality everything is much simpler, and now you will find out the real reason this phenomenon.

Similarity with ancient tools

In the old days, tools were made from scrap materials, since the services of a blacksmith were too expensive. For example, a stick with a branched tip was often used as a plow. This design made it possible to quickly plow the soil, since many branches loosened the soil well.

But one day one person noticed that elk's antlers were very similar to the tip of a plow. And so, not much time passed before all the people in that area began to call these animals elk. Soon this nickname was adopted by residents of neighboring villages, and after them all others. As a result, now all Russian-speaking peoples call moose elk. And if at first such a nickname applied only to males, then over the years it became attached to the entire species as a whole.

Well, let’s summarize: elk is an elk. This epithet is applied to it due to the fact that its horns resemble an ancient tool - a plow. And although today this device can only be seen in museums, the old nickname still refers to the elk animal.

Elk ( Alces alces) belongs to the order Artiodactyla, the deer family. Elk is the largest representative of the deer family. They are typical inhabitants of the extensive forests of Eurasia and North America, surrounding North hemisphere south of the Arctic Circle. European moose reach a length of 3 m and a height at the withers of 2.35 m; the weight of a male reaches 580-600 kg, of a female - 350 kg; North American ones can be up to 3.1 m in length, up to 2.35 m at the withers, and weighing up to 800 kg. The elk is often called elk. Fur color can range from grayish to brown-black.
Strong, long legs support a rather massive body and allow the animal to run long distances and overcome any windbreaks. Wide hooves are designed so that they do not slip on ice and slippery soil. Big ears, small eyes, drooping nose, long head, short tail - all this gives the moose a not the most sophisticated look. But despite this, the moose is a graceful animal.
Thanks to their spreading hooves, they can easily move through swamps and swamps. They are good swimmers and can cross rivers.

A striking sign of an elk is a hanging, very mobile upper lip, the purpose of which can be understood by observing how these animals look for food in the forest: they wrap their lips around branches and leaves of bushes and trees (primarily soft species) and then tear them off. Males have a soft leathery bag hanging on their neck, the so-called “earring”.
The male differs from the female by the presence of huge branched antlers, the span of which reaches 1.8 m. The antlers of an elk differ in shape from the antlers of other deer. From the eighth year of life, the elk wears its strongest antlers. If European males have antlers consisting of only a small shovel and tines, then North American moose living in Alaska have antlers with powerful shovels and more than 40 tines, and their weight exceeds 20 kg.

elk at a watering hole

From late June to August, moose clean the hardened antlers of the skin that nourished the antlers during their growth. The elk begins to rub them against the tree, as if inviting the males to fight for the right to possess the female. By September the antlers are cleared. Then it’s time for the rut, where horns play an important role. Branched antlers attract females and repel other males.
Males, whose antlers are much smaller, retreat without a fight. And a fight begins between equal rivals: both males fight with their horns, trying to knock each other down. The loser leaves with nothing, and the winner gets the female. In the month of December, when it ends mating season, the moose's antlers fall off. At the beginning of summer, new, soft horns begin to grow in their place, which by August become hard and have two horns more than the previous ones. In moose, the rut is much calmer, and fights with other males do not happen very often. However, from time to time it happens that one of the rivals kills the other.
The age of puberty is between 16 and 28 months, mating from September to October. The duration of pregnancy is approximately six months. The offspring is 1 or 2 calves. Elk offspring are born in the spring. The weight of newborns is about 10 kg, 70-80 cm at the withers, after 6 months their weight reaches 130-150 kg. The moose calves begin to walk almost immediately. The female teaches them to swim from birth. Therefore in mature age moose are capable of swimming at speeds of up to 10 km/h.
These large animals behave very protectively towards babies, so females should always be approached with extreme caution. The usual pace of moose is a leisurely trot, but if there is danger, they can also gallop.

Moose lead a solitary lifestyle or graze in small herds: a female, several females and their calves. They live up to 20-25 years, but most animals in nature die much earlier. These deer are often attacked by bears (especially in early spring, after leaving the den), and although moose bravely repel the attacks of this predator with powerful front legs, they do not always emerge victorious from the fight. Wolves can be very dangerous for moose. But wolves attack adult moose only in a pack, and even then they avoid attacking from the front. But a lot of young people and teenagers die from wolves. Unlike bears, wolves attack moose during periods of little snow, since in loose and high snow it is difficult for wolves to keep up not only with an adult moose, but also with a teenager. However, there is no animal more terrible for a moose than a man who for some reason decided that the proof of his strength is the moose antlers on the wall.
Because their necks are too short, moose cannot graze grass, so their main food consists of young shoots and leaves of willows and birches, and the bark of trees and shrubs. They also love ferns and mosses.
The elk try to stay close to water bodies and swampy places. IN summer time they can stand in the water for a long time, fleeing the bites of annoying insects or enemies. They often use aquatic plants for food. It can even stay underwater for one minute. This is enough to pick the roots of water lilies - his favorite delicacy.
In summer, the animal has to eat up its fat reserves to survive the famine. harsh winter. Every day, an elk needs to eat at least 30 kg of plant food.
Outside Russia, elk were exterminated in Western Europe back in the 18th century and, in addition to countries of Eastern Europe, has not recovered anywhere. IN Northern Europe moose inhabit the Scandinavian Peninsula. In Asia it is also found in Northern Mongolia and Northeast China.
The animal is not in danger of being destroyed. There are currently 150,000 moose in Alaska alone. But at the same time, up to 10,000 of them are killed there every year.

Elk (Alces alces)

Magnitude	European moose reach a length of 3 m and a height at the withers of 2.35 m; the weight of a male reaches 580-600 kg, of a female - 350 kg; North American ones can be up to 3.1 m in length, up to 2.35 m at the withers, and weighing up to 800 kg
Signs	The size of a horse; long legs, short neck, long head, short tail; brown-black fur; males have large horns
Nutrition	Leaves, branches and bark of soft trees - willow, aspen, etc., along with marsh and aquatic plants
Reproduction	Gon in September; elk calves are born from April to early June, at birth 70-80 cm at the withers, after 6 months their weight reaches 130-150 kg
Habitats	Forest areas; extended to large areas Northern Hemisphere

Less. By appearance Moose are noticeably different from other deer. His body and neck are short, his withers are high, in the form of a hump. The legs are very elongated, so in order to drink, the elk is forced to go deep into the water or kneel on its front legs. The head is large, hook-nosed, with an overhanging fleshy upper lip. Under the throat there is a soft leathery outgrowth (“earring”), reaching 25-40 cm. The wool is coarse, brownish-black; legs light gray, almost white.

Males have enormous (the largest of any living mammal) spade-shaped horns; their span reaches 180 cm, weight - 20-30 kg. The elk sheds its antlers annually in November - December and walks without them until April - May. Females are hornless.

The elk is often called elk because of its horns, which are shaped like a plow.

Distribution and subspecies

Forms from 4 to 8 subspecies (according to different sources) . The largest moose with the most powerful antlers belong to the Alaskan subspecies A. a. gigas and to the East Siberian A. a. pfizenmayeri; the smallest elk with deer-like antlers - to the Ussuri subspecies A. a. cameloides. Some authors divide Eurasian and American moose into two separate species - Alces alces And Alces americanus .

Lifestyle and nutrition

Moose inhabit various forests, willow thickets along the banks of steppe rivers and lakes, and in the forest-tundra they stay in birch and aspen forests. In the steppe and tundra in summer they are found far from the forest, sometimes hundreds of kilometers away. Great importance for moose there are swamps, quiet rivers and lakes, where in summer they feed on aquatic vegetation and escape the heat. In winter, moose need mixed and coniferous forests with dense undergrowth. In that part of the range where the snow cover is no more than 30-50 cm high, moose live sedentary; where it reaches 70 cm, they make transitions to less snowy areas for the winter. The transition to wintering areas is gradual and lasts from October to December-January. Females with elk calves go first, adult males and females without elk calves come last. Moose travel 10-15 km a day. Reverse, spring migrations occur during snow melting and in the reverse order: adult males come first, females with elk calves come last.

Moose do not have specific periods of eating and resting. In summer, the heat makes them nocturnal animals, during the day driving them into clearings where the wind blows, into lakes and swamps, where you can hide up to your neck in water, or into dense young coniferous forests, which provide some protection from insects. In winter, moose feed during the day, and at night they lie down almost all the time. In severe frosts, animals lie down in loose snow so that only their heads and withers stick out above it, which reduces heat transfer. In winter, elk trample down the snow heavily in an area that hunters call an elk “camp,” stand. The location of the stands depends on the feeding areas. In Central Russia these are mainly young pine forests, in Siberia - thickets of willow trees or bushy birches along river banks, in the Far East - sparse coniferous forests with deciduous undergrowth. Several moose can use one stand at the same time; in Priokskie pine forests in the 50s of the 20th century, in winter, up to 100 or more moose per 1000 hectares gathered in some areas.

Moose feed on trees, shrubs and herbaceous vegetation, as well as mosses, lichens and fungi. In summer they eat leaves, reaching them from a considerable height thanks to their growth; feed on aquatic and near-aquatic plants (watch, marigold, egg capsules, water lilies, horsetails), as well as tall grasses in burnt areas and cutting areas - fireweed, sorrel. At the end of summer they look for cap mushrooms, sprigs of blueberries and lingonberries with berries. From September they begin to bite off shoots and branches of trees and shrubs and by November they almost completely switch to twig food. The main winter food for moose includes willow, pine (fir in North America), aspen, rowan, birch, raspberry; in the thaw they gnaw the bark. During the day, an adult moose eats: about 35 kg of food in summer, and 12-15 kg in winter; per year - about 7 tons. In large numbers, moose damage forest nurseries and plantings. Elks visit salt licks almost everywhere; In winter they even lick salt off highways.

Moose run fast, up to 56 km/h; swim well. While looking for aquatic plants, they can keep their heads under water for more than a minute. They defend themselves from predators by striking their front legs. Even Brown bear does not dare to attack a male moose in an open area. As a rule, the bear tries to attack in the presence of bushes so that the elk is limited in its movements. Of the sense organs, the moose has the best developed hearing and smell; poor vision - motionless standing man he cannot see at a distance of a few tens of meters.

An elk very rarely attacks a person first. Usually an attack occurs when irritating factors or approaching moose calves.

Social structure and reproduction

Males and single females live alone or in small groups of 3-4 animals. In summer and winter, adult females walk with elk calves, forming groups of 3-4 heads, sometimes males and single females join them, forming a herd of 5-8 heads. In the spring these herds disperse.

In Russia and Scandinavia, attempts have been made to domesticate and use moose as a riding and dairy animal, but the difficulty of keeping them makes this economically impractical. There were 7 moose farms in the USSR, currently there are two - the moose farm of the Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve in the village of Yaksha and the Sumarokovskaya moose farm in the Kostroma region. These experiments are reflected in the film by A. Zguridi “The Tale of the Forest Giant”. Both moose farms state Tours are available at the farms.

Moose milk has a similar taste to cow's milk, but is fattier and less sweet. Used in medical nutrition. For preservation purposes it is frozen.

Elk meat is inferior in taste qualities meat of other deer - it is less fatty and tougher. It is used mainly for the production of canned food and raw smoked sausages.

Number

Annual mortality among adult moose from 7 to 15%; Up to 50% of young animals die in the first year. Moose are hunted by wolves and bears (brown bear, grizzly bear); The prey is usually young, sick and old animals. Wolves are practically harmless to healthy adults. Moose are characterized by a disease caused by a nematode. Parelaphostrongylus tenuis, striking nervous system, and ticks. They are often hit by cars, and the motorists themselves often suffer from this.

Currently, the number of moose, like other ungulates, is declining due to active poaching.

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Notes

Excerpt characterizing Moose

In military affairs, the strength of an army is also the product of the mass by something, some unknown x.
Military science, seeing in history countless examples of the fact that the mass of troops does not coincide with strength, that small detachments defeat large ones, vaguely recognizes the existence of this unknown factor and tries to find it either in geometric construction, then in armament, then - the most common - in the genius of the commanders. But substituting all these multiplier values does not produce results consistent with historical facts.
Meanwhile, one only has to abandon the false view of the reality of orders that has been established, for the sake of the heroes. higher authorities during the war in order to find this unknown x.
X this is the spirit of the army, that is, a greater or lesser desire to fight and expose oneself to the dangers of all the people who make up the army, completely independent of whether people fight under the command of geniuses or non-geniuses, in three or two lines, with clubs or guns firing thirty once a minute. People who have the greatest desire to fight will always put themselves in the most favorable conditions for a fight.
The spirit of the army is a multiplier for mass, giving the product of force. To determine and express the value of the spirit of the army, this unknown factor, is the task of science.
This task is possible only when we stop arbitrarily substituting instead of the value of the entire unknown X those conditions under which force is manifested, such as: orders of the commander, weapons, etc., taking them as the value of the multiplier, and recognize this unknown in all its integrity, that is, as a greater or lesser desire to fight and expose oneself to danger. Then only, expressing the known equations historical facts, from a comparison of the relative value of this unknown one can hope to determine the unknown itself.
Ten people, battalions or divisions, fighting with fifteen people, battalions or divisions, defeated fifteen, that is, they killed and captured everyone without a trace and themselves lost four; therefore, four were destroyed on one side and fifteen on the other. Therefore four was equal to fifteen, and therefore 4a:=15y. Therefore, w: g/==15:4. This equation does not give the value of the unknown, but it does give the relationship between two unknowns. And by subsuming various historical units (battles, campaigns, periods of war) under such equations, we obtain series of numbers in which laws must exist and can be discovered.
The tactical rule that one must act in masses when advancing and separately when retreating unconsciously confirms only the truth that the strength of an army depends on its spirit. In order to lead people under the cannonballs, more discipline is needed, which can only be achieved by moving in masses, than in order to fight off attackers. But this rule, which loses sight of the spirit of the army, constantly turns out to be incorrect and is especially strikingly contrary to reality where there is a strong rise or decline in the spirit of the army - in all people's wars.
The French, retreating in 1812, although they should have defended themselves separately, according to tactics, huddled together, because the spirit of the army had fallen so low that only the mass held the army together. The Russians, on the contrary, according to tactics, should attack en masse, but in reality they are fragmented, because the spirit is so high that individuals strike without the orders of the French and do not need coercion in order to expose themselves to labor and danger.

The so-called partisan war began with the enemy’s entry into Smolensk.
Before guerrilla warfare was officially accepted by our government, thousands of people of the enemy army - backward marauders, foragers - were exterminated by the Cossacks and peasants, who beat these people as unconsciously as dogs unconsciously kill a runaway rabid dog. Denis Davydov, with his Russian instinct, was the first to understand the meaning of that terrible club, which, without asking the rules of military art, destroyed the French, and the glory of the first step to legitimize this method of war belongs to him.
On August 24th the first partisan detachment Davydov, and after his detachment others began to be established. The further the campaign progressed, the more the number of these detachments increased.
The partisans destroyed Great Army in parts. They picked up those fallen leaves that fell of their own accord from the withered tree - the French army, and sometimes shook this tree. In October, while the French were fleeing to Smolensk, there were hundreds of these parties of various sizes and characters. There were parties that adopted all the techniques of the army, with infantry, artillery, headquarters, and the comforts of life; there were only Cossacks and cavalry; there were small ones, prefabricated ones, on foot and on horseback, there were peasant and landowner ones, unknown to anyone. There was a sexton as the head of the party, who took several hundred prisoners a month. There was the elder Vasilisa, who killed hundreds of French.
The last days of October were the peak time guerrilla warfare. That first period of this war, during which the partisans, surprised at their own audacity, were afraid at every moment of being caught and surrounded by the French and, without unsaddled and almost without dismounting from their horses, hid in the forests, expecting a pursuit at every moment, has already passed. Now this war had already been defined, it became clear to everyone what could be done with the French and what could not be done. Now only those detachment commanders who, with their headquarters, according to the rules, walked away from the French, considered many things impossible. The small partisans, who had long since begun their work and were closely looking out for the French, considered it possible what the leaders of large detachments did not dare to think about. The Cossacks and men who climbed among the French believed that now everything was possible.
On October 22, Denisov, who was one of the partisans, was with his party in the midst of partisan passion. In the morning he and his party were on the move. All day long, through the forests adjacent to the high road, he followed a large French transport of cavalry equipment and Russian prisoners, separated from other troops and under strong cover, as was known from spies and prisoners, heading towards Smolensk. This transport was known not only to Denisov and Dolokhov (also a partisan with a small party), who walked close to Denisov, but also to the commanders of large detachments with headquarters: everyone knew about this transport and, as Denisov said, sharpened their teeth on it. Two of these large detachment leaders - one Pole, the other German - almost at the same time sent Denisov an invitation to each join his own detachment in order to attack the transport.
“No, bg”at, I’m with a mustache myself,” said Denisov, having read these papers, and wrote to the German that, despite the spiritual desire that he had to serve under the command of such a valiant and famous general, he must deprive himself of this happiness, because he had already entered under the command of a Pole general. He wrote the same thing to the Pole general, notifying him that he had already entered under the command of a German.
Having given this order, Denisov intended, without reporting this to the highest commanders, to attack together with Dolokhov and take this transport with his own. small forces. The transport went on October 22 from the village of Mikulina to the village of Shamsheva. On the left side of the road from Mikulin to Shamshev we walked large forests, in some places approaching the road itself, in others moving away from the road a mile or more. Through these forests all day long, now going deeper into the middle of them, now going to the edge, Denisov rode with the party, not letting the moving French out of sight. In the morning, not far from Mikulin, where the forest came close to the road, Cossacks from Denisov’s party captured two French wagons with cavalry saddles that had become dirty in the mud and took them into the forest. From then until the evening, the party, without attacking, followed the movement of the French. It was necessary, without frightening them, to let them calmly reach Shamshev and then, uniting with Dolokhov, who was supposed to come to a meeting in the evening at the guardhouse in the forest (a mile from Shamshev), at dawn, fall from both sides out of the blue and beat and take everyone at once.
Behind, two miles from Mikulin, where the forest approached the road itself, six Cossacks were left, who were supposed to report as soon as new French columns appeared.
Ahead of Shamsheva, Dolokhov had to explore the road in the same way in order to know at what distance there were still other French troops. One thousand five hundred people were expected to be transported. Denisov had two hundred people, Dolokhov could have had the same number. But superior numbers did not stop Denisov. The only thing he still needed to know was what exactly these troops were; and for this purpose Denisov needed to take a tongue (that is, a man from the enemy column). In the morning attack on the wagons, the matter was done with such haste that the French who were with the wagons were killed by everyone and only the drummer’s boy was captured alive, who was retarded and could not say anything positive about the kind of troops in the column.
Denisov considered it dangerous to attack another time, so as not to alarm the entire column, and therefore he sent forward to Shamshevo the peasant Tikhon Shcherbaty, who was with his party, to capture, if possible, at least one of the French advanced quarterers who were there.

It was an autumn, warm, rainy day. The sky and horizon were the same color muddy water. It seemed like fog fell, then suddenly it began to rain heavily.
Denisov rode on a thoroughbred, thin horse with toned sides, wearing a cloak and a hat with water flowing from it. He, just like his horse, who was squinting his head and pinching his ears, winced from the slanting rain and looked anxiously ahead. His face, emaciated and overgrown with a thick, short, black beard, seemed angry.
Next to Denisov, also in a burka and papakha, on a well-fed, large bottom, rode a Cossack esaul - an employee of Denisov.
Esaul Lovaisky - the third, also in a burka and papakha, was a long, flat, board-like, white-faced, blond man, with narrow light eyes and a calmly smug expression both in his face and in his stance. Although it was impossible to say what was special about the horse and the rider, at the first glance at the esaul and Denisov it was clear that Denisov was both wet and awkward - that Denisov was the man who sat on the horse; whereas, looking at the esaul, it was clear that he was as comfortable and calm as always, and that he was not a man who sat on a horse, but a man and a horse together were one creature, increased by double strength.
A little ahead of them walked a thoroughly wet little peasant conductor, in a gray caftan and a white cap.
A little behind, on a thin, thin Kyrgyz horse with a huge tail and mane and with bloody lips, rode a young officer in a blue French overcoat.
A hussar rode next to him, carrying behind him on the back of his horse a boy in a tattered French uniform and a blue cap. The boy held the hussar with his hands, red from the cold, moved his bare feet, trying to warm them, and, raising his eyebrows, looked around him in surprise. It was the French drummer taken in the morning.
Behind, in threes and fours, along a narrow, muddy and worn-out forest road, came the hussars, then the Cossacks, some in a burka, some in a French overcoat, some with a blanket thrown over their heads. The horses, both red and bay, all seemed black from the rain flowing from them. The horses' necks seemed strangely thin from their wet manes. Steam rose from the horses. And the clothes, and the saddles, and the reins - everything was wet, slimy and soggy, just like the earth and the fallen leaves with which the road was laid. People sat hunched over, trying not to move in order to warm up the water that had spilled onto their bodies, and not to let in the new cold water that was leaking under the seats, knees and behind the necks. In the middle of the stretched out Cossacks, two wagons on French horses and harnessed to Cossack saddles rumbled over stumps and branches and rumbled along the water-filled ruts of the road.
Denisov’s horse, avoiding a puddle that was on the road, reached to the side and pushed his knee against a tree.

Most adults, not to mention children, confuse the beautiful carriers of branched antlers: deer and elk. Biologically speaking, they are actually members of the same deer family. But it’s not for nothing that these beauties were divided into two different subfamilies.

Deer are smaller in size than elk. The horns also match the overall grace of these animals and branch picturesquely in various directions. A certain pride and stature comes from the deer.

Elk is a large, massive mammal. The height is up to two meters at the withers, and the weight of representatives of this subfamily is up to 0.5 tons. To carry such a mass, you simply need powerful, hardy legs and a strong torso. By the way, hunters call moose of different sexes bull and cow because of the similarity of their muzzles to these artiodactyls.

But most distinctive feature This subfamily of deer has steel antlers. Huge, shovel-shaped and reminiscent of an agricultural tool - a plow. For its similarity to this instrument, the moose is often called elk.

The reader is now familiar with the differences between these different representatives deer and will not confuse elk with deer even if they are mistakenly presented on television. I hope we answered your question: “Why is the elk called elk?”