SMALL LIGHTS. A WILDLY BIG PICTURE.
HOW BIG IS
ELK COUNTRY?
Thousands of animals.
One extraordinary picture.
An expanding collection, not a complete U.S. census.
Colorado
Change states. Watch the field fill with life.
The largest statewide estimate in this western snapshot.
Source: Colorado Parks & Wildlife · MID-2020s02 / PUT IT IN PERSPECTIVE
SAME ANIMAL.
DIFFERENT SCALE.
How does one state stack up? Every bar starts at zero and uses the same scale. Select a state to highlight its estimate.
Colorado’s displayed estimate is this many times Colorado’s displayed value. Ranges use a midpoint; plus signs use the stated baseline.
13 selected states, including eastern and Great Lakes restorations. Estimates come from different years and methods, so this is a comparison of published snapshots, not a current census.
Shared axis: 0 to 290,000 elk. Values with + show a baseline; Pennsylvania uses its midpoint.
03 / TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS
WHICH HAS
MORE ELK?
Choose the state with the larger estimate in this collection.
Make your pick. Then reveal the numbers.
THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE SNAPSHOT
HOW DO YOU COUNT
AN ANIMAL THAT MOVES?
Wildlife agencies do not stand in one meadow and tally every elk. Biologists combine aerial surveys, ground observations, radio collars, population models, and local knowledge. A careful estimate comes with a place, a year, a source, and some humility.
SEE HOW SCIENTISTS TRACK MOVEMENT