Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Where do we contest the answers to these questions? At least one is a trick question. Average life expectancy for an elk? Depends on where we're talking I guess.....if left to nature I'd say the average would be about9 to12 years. Add in hunting...depends on the unit regs. Others have mentioned calf mortality....in areas where there are lots of predatorsthis would also lower the number. Who really knows the answer to this question over all? But I'd say in normal conditions...no hunting....average predators....an elkwould live about 10 to 12 years.

The name is a big question mark in my mind....those of you that know me well know I also speak fluent Spanish. The word for "elk" in Spanish is the same as a "moose". I was told the reason why was this...when settlers came from Europe they mistook the size of an elk and actually thought it was a moose when in fact it is a larger brother to the red deer. My understanding was the elk was mis-named and another name in English was created for a moose. That would mean if they were named correctly today wewould havecalled ourNorth Americanbig games speciesdeer, red deer (elk), and elk (moose). I didn't think they were named after red deer. Just closely related. What does the word "elk" have to do with red deer? So needless to say maybe my history lesson was incorrect and I missed question one.

I missed the population question too. I thought it was about 1 million but I missed this question. So I looked it up on RMEF's website and this is what they say:

"POPULATION
Today, elk number about 1 million in North America. This represents roughly 10 percent of the estimated population before European settlement of North America."

Fun quiz though...just thought I'd add what little knowledge I have.