ELK by Daniel J. Cox (Chronicle...

ELK by Daniel J. Cox (Chronicle Books: $12.95). One of the largest members of the deer family, Cervus elaphus is a North American descendant of Eurasian red deer that migrated over the Bering-Chukchi land bridge during the Ice Age. Before the Europeans arrived, elk ranked second only to bison in numbers: Ten million members of six subspecies may have roamed the continent. Today, the Eastern and Merriam elk are extinct, and an estimated 500,000-700,000 animals of the four surviving subspecies live in the United States and Canada. An accomplished nature photographer, Cox follows the lives of elk in the Rocky Mountains through the cycle of a single year, noting the changes in their activities and behavior. His striking photographs capture the magnificence of these large animals, including the splendid antlers that have made the males a favorite target for hunters.