British Columbia Wildlife
Wapiti
Wapiti (Cervus elaphus)
The Wapiti is found in the Rocky Mountain area of British Columbia, Canada. The Wapiti weighing up to 800 pounds is easily identified by the white patch on its butt and mangy mane.
The Wapiti is the most vocal of the deer family. The females bark, the young bleat and in mating season from August to November the males bugle – the sound can carry for miles and is very distinctive.
The Wapiti loves open fields in alpine meadows, river valleys and parklands where it can find the grassy mouthfuls and shrubby materials that makes up its diet. The Wapiti numbers are falling fast and it is one of the animals that is very elusive in British Columbia with only a few herds left in the higher elevations.
