In summer he has plenty to eat—leaves, twigs, and grass. But when the winter comes, and the leaves fall, and the ground is covered with snow, the poor elk would starve and die, if he did not have at least the bark of trees to eat. And very little bark he gets for many days at a time.
Here I must tell you that some kinds of deer are among the most hardy animals; that means that at times they can live on very little. There is a kind of deer, called the reindeer, that lives in the frozen North, where there is snow and ice almost all the year round; and the reindeer has nothing more to eat for many days than a little bit of moss or seaweed.
But there is another animal, not a deer, that is still more hardy: he can go a whole week without eating or drinking—and do work all the time! That seems very wonderful. But I shall tell you about that animal in another chapter.
Now about the elk. His antlers are fine! You can see in the picture how huge they are. And yet, would you believe it, he grew them in only five months! I told you a little while ago that a deer throws off his antlers every year, and grows new ones. I shall now tell you how the elk does that.
Elk
Photograph of a group in the American Museum of Natural History, New York
In the middle of the winter, the elk's antlers break off bit by bit. In a few weeks they have all fallen off, leaving the elk's head bare, with just a ridge or rough stump on it. Then, early in the spring the new antlers start growing from the top of the stump. They grow very fast, and in five months are as huge as ever.