five elk

Remember the other day when I shared a photo of two tule elk bulls with their big, fuzzy antlers? Well I might not have told the entire story... there weren't just two, there were actually five. Upon returning home after graciously photographing these handsome animals, I began researching them a bit. The tule elk are apparently only found in California, and nearly went extinct in the 1800s due to over-hunting and displacement due to cattle expansion. In fact, at one point they were actually thought to be completely extinct, until a Bakersfield cattle baron, Henry Miller, discovered a tiny herd on his ranch in 1874. Fortunately he had the foresight to preserve and protect the herd, and now the entire estimated 5,700 tule elk population present in 22 herds across California, are said to have been derived directly from his small herd.