Depends where you live!
According to Rewilding Britain, there is a plan to reintroduce the Eurasian elk Alces alces to our shores, possibly in the wetlands of Norfolk if they can be sufficiently restored to accommodate Europe’s largest deer species. The North American moose is a close relative and subspecies, Alces alces americana having made the crossing to the American continent about 15,000 years ago. Confusingly, an elk is an entirely different species in North America, and is basically – what we in Britain would call – a big red deer. The gendering can be confusing too:
- Elk: bulls and cows
- Red deer: stags and hinds
- Fallow and Roe: bucks and does
Everyone knows moose (sadly the plural is not mooses, or indeed meece) or elk for their huge size, large flat palmate antlers and long, soft faces with a rather lugubrious expression. Their nose or proboscis is really sensitive and slightly prehensile for chomping reeds and other water plants; they are also excellent swimmers. For such enormous beasts, they are beset with problems such as internal and external parasites, and are regularly predated by wolves and bears. It would be wonderful to have them back in the Fens, and as with all reintroductions of megafauna, the habitat requirements mean the peripheral benefits for thousands of associated species are significant. Elk need a mosaic habitat with both young and mature forest, wetland, and grassland.
The European bison is enjoying a revival in Kent, and while domestic livestock are a fantastic proxy for softer rewilding projects where there are footpaths and human access, the prospect of proper wilderness and the attendant species in pockets of our tiny island is really exciting.
I know there is controversy, but these reintroductions are grounded in scientific study, and at least it’s less of an experiment than just slaughtering and decimating everything like our forebears did. Yes, some might not work, and of course there will be lessons learned as nature doesn’t conform to our need for regulation and compartmentalising – which is another reason to embrace it. Any opportunity to give up our obsession with ownership and dominion of nature and admit we don’t have the answers, and learning from, and working alongside wildlife is always a useful endeavour.
Here is an elk, in gouache in my new A4 sketchbook:
