I know, you're probably thinking......here we go again with more Elk pictures. It's really hard to resist the temptation, when these magnificent critters are seen almost every day. Yesterday, my shift started at the Grand Canyon Visitors Center, where I took over a bus from a morning driver. As I pulled into the transit loading area, I saw a crowd of people taking pictures of this very large Bull Elk. We see this scene of crowds taking pictures of wildlife all of the time. (As I'm writing this, 5 Mule Deer Bucks, all 4 pointers or more, just strolled by the motor home).
The way people approach these wild animals is almost like they're at a zoo, with an invisible fence protecting them from any kind of harm. There are several of these male Elk that stay here in the park year round, and they have all lost the velvet on their huge antlers. Yesterday for the first time, I saw two of these males sparring with each other, their antlers locked together. It didn't look like they were very serious about their combat positions, but it was definitely a precursor of what's just around the corner.
When these males start getting serious about protecting their harems of females, what occurred yesterday would fall under the heading of "stupid tourists, in a potentially dangerous situation". There are signs all over the park warning the public to not feed, or approach any of the wildlife. As you might expect, and as illustrated by the pictures above, those signs are for the most part ignored. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, a vast number of drivers ignore the traffic signs as well!
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