Around the housing area of Mammoth Hot Springs, a bull (male) elk calls and responds to other males while he keeps close tabs on a group of grazing females.
Each year, Mammoth Hot Springs fills with elk (Cervus elaphus) that congregate for the annual breeding season. Listen carefully to this recording: Along with the screechy calls of Great horned owls (Bubo virginianus), you'll hear several bull elk calling to each other, their distinctive bugles ringing out of the crisp, autumn night.
During the rut in Mammoth Hot Springs, two bull elk spar with their antlers while a third bugles nearby.
Credit / Author:
NPS/Jennifer Jerrett
Date created:
10/14/2020
Elk Bugle One
It's a fall morning at Mammoth Hot Springs. As an elk harem browses near Officer's Row, a bull elk announces his availability and fitness to the group with a healthy bugle.