Britain could be getting a new ecosystem engineer – in the wake of the ongoing and now legal reintroductions of beavers into watersheds around the country, two wildlife trusts now want to bring back the elk.
Elk – or moose as they are called in North America – are the world’s largest species of deer, and they are impressive animals. A bull can stand 2 metres high at the shoulder and weigh up to 700kg, and with their huge, palmate antlers, they are instantly recognisable.
And they are also native to the British Isles, though they went extinct, probably as a result of hunting and habitat loss and fragmentation, some 3,000 years ago.
In Europe, they are found over large parts of Scandinavia and Russia, and are slowly recolonising areas as far west as the Poland-German border.
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Could elk return to the UK?
Now, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trusts say they are investigating whether elk would be an appropriate species to release into two large, fenced enclosures where they have previously reintroduced beavers.
According to Rachel Bennett, deputy director of wilder landscapes at Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, elk are unusual in being a semi-aquatic deer species. “They move through dynamic connected habitats in a unique way,” she explains. “They will be in water one day, a riparian floodplain the next and then a grassland the next.”
They influence and modify wetland habitats though a variety of actions, including seed dispersal and bioturbation – the act of churning up sediments in a lake or river and releasing nutrients. They also open up woodlands by feeding on vegetation, allowing other plants to flourish in the gaps.
For the moment, says Bennett, there is still a lot of research to be carried out, including whether the UK offers a suitable home for them after such a long time. “We don’t want to bring them back only for them to go extinct again,” she says. It will also be important to carry out extensive consultations with local communities.
But assuming this work suggests elk could benefit biodiversity in the UK, the next stage would be to release some individuals into two fenced reserves, one at Willington Wetlands south-west of Derby and the other in the Idle Valley to the east of Sheffield.
A much longer-term plan, adds Bennett, would be assessing whether elk could ever be brought back into unfenced reserves.
“We believe they could have benefits for society by helping to restore wetlands that would reduce flood risks and sequester carbon,” says Bennett.
Main image: elk (or moose) bull in Swedish forest. Credit: Getty
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