‘Flying elk’ are hoisted up high by helicopters — for science, video shows. Here’s why
You don’t see flying elk every day.
But the pregnant, blindfolded animals are soaring through the Tennessee skies via helicopter in the name of science.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, along with partners in Kentucky and other conservation groups, is capturing pregnant cow elk to conduct a two-year study on their calves once they’re born, the Tennessee agency said in a Feb. 9 news release.
A video shows a helicopter flying low over a field following galloping elk, before someone shoots a net to capture them.
Garrett Clevinger, the elk program coordinator with the state’s wildlife resource agency, explained officials are capturing the calves by air to implant tracking devices in them.
“We’re putting a transmitter inside the pregnant cows, specifically targeting those, in hopes that when they give birth in May, June, we’ll be able to go out and collar the calves, and then monitor them over the course of their lives,” Clevinger said in a video posted by the resources agency.
Researchers are conducting the study at North Cumberland, the state’s largest wildlife management area made up of nearly 200,000 acres of the Cumberland Mountain range.
The wildlife area is also “home to the second-largest free-roaming elk population East of the Mississippi River.”
Biologists hope to learn at what point young calves are recruited into the population and understand what hazards can kill elk, whether predation or disease, Clevinger explained. Part of the project will also include learning about the habitats where the pregnant animals give birth.
A GPS device inside the mom elk will send a signal when they give birth.
State conservationists reintroduced elk to the area in the early 2000s and are continuing their work with the species in this new, first-of-its-kind study, wildlife officials said.
“This is pretty important, this is not something we’ve done yet,” Clevinger said. “So it’ll be very beneficial for us to be able to get that information so that we can better understand population dynamics of this species.”
The Cumberland Mountains are part of the Appalachian range, stretching from northern Alabama to West Virginia.
Iconic desert creature found shot near field sparks search for poacher, officials say
Blurry creature on side of road reveals massive herd hiding in darkness, photo shows
Dramatic trail cam video shows cougar attack deer in Michigan woods. ‘This is insane’
Angler didn’t realize how ‘massive’ record-breaking fish was — until it fought back
