The
picture depicts a bull elk amongst spring foliage in Rocky Mountain National
Park. These plants are a life-line in the times of need for and elk. When the
snow is at its heaviest and the elk are at their most vulnerable and meek
state. When you enter the park now you can see that the plant life has changed drastically
and there is no longer the thick under-growth just lodge pines and striped
aspens. The landscape stripped bare of nutrients.
This is a way that the population can thin out itself. It
could possibly balance the numbers of the herds if the range of the herds wasn’t
so wide. However with so much space they are able to come down into the plains
and the graze the fields of the ranchers. They even come into the fields of
farmers and eat the crops such as hays, corn, and wheat.
The picture shows a large animal with to this untrained eye seems a lot of vegetation to choose from. That being said I don't know what type of vegetation is needed to sustain this type of animal. Without the necessary information the picture does not give me an adequate idea of the problem. So because of that I will be looking in on your blog again. In Oregon where I grew up we occasionally had problems with over population of different animals. There they increased hunting limits. I don't know if any of this was on park land though.
ReplyDeleteBy looking at the picture, there does not seem like there is very much to eat. The grass isn't green and I don't see leaves or berries on the trees. I can see why they may wander to the more populated areas to find food. There always seems to be some sort of clash between people and animals due to resources, whether that be land or food. As far as the overpopulation, I would assume that they would try and regulate it by issuing more hunting tags or something of that nature. I don't know a whole lot about hunting, because I don't like the idea of hunting for sport. I have friends and family that go out hunting every year, but I just can't imagine taking the life of an animal. I break down when a bird or animal hits my car when I'm driving much less me intentionally taking their life. I myself would not be able to do it. I guess they would have to do something since there are not as many predators in the area anymore to complete the natural circle of life.
ReplyDeleteI do think this picture somewhat represents the situation of over population and the lack of food for the animals. It also brings up the situation of the land itself being destroyed by the animals. I would liked to have seen an image with a large herd and barren land. I think that may have more accurately represented the direction you seem to be heading with your research. I do agree that taking into account the devastation on the land from the herds is very important to include, however.
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