We tend to think of elk as rulers of the Rockies. But these creatures have proven they can live in lots of different places that aren't always filled with needle-covered trees.

Once found all across North America, elk have historically lived in many types of habitat. They've learned how to survive with different foods, weather, cover and neighbors. In fact, elk once lived in almost every variety of habitat on this continent except for the driest western deserts and the most humid southeastern forests.

Across the continent, elk occupy only a tiny fraction of the land they roamed before Europeans arrived. Towns, roads and cities have taken away much of their habitat. More elk live in the rugged Rocky Mountains than anywhere else now, because that's where they could escape the growing number of people settling the eastern forests and Great Plains 100 to 200 years ago.

Of Marshes and Deserts -- Tule Elk
Temperatures top 100 degrees, the few oak trees provide little shade, and water gets scarce, but that doesn't bother California's tule elk. While most elk must live with harsh winters, tule elk face the opposite challenge. Winter brings plenty of greens to eat in California's Central Valley, while summer's heat burns up most of the forage and bakes away the water. Tules have adapted to go longer without water than other elk can. Their extra-long rows of teeth help them chew up the desert's coarse grasses and shrubs, and in the fall they munch on acorns. Tule elk also hang out in marshes filled with "tules" -- the tall, cattail-like plants that give these elk their name.

Ghosts of the Jungle -- Roosevelt's elk
Amidst the dark, looming cedars and firs lurks a large shadow of an animal. It's the Roosevelt's elk of the Pacific Northwest. These elk hide out in the thick coastal rainforests where they easily eluded early hunters. Roosevelt's plump up on berry bushes and willows all winter, munching more grasses and small leafy plants in spring and summer giving them the largest bodies of any elk. They also have the darkest coats, which help them blend into their shady environment.

Grazing the Grasslands
Are low, wavy hills cloaked in golden grasses that dance in the breeze perfect elk habitat? They were at one time, but today only a few small herds live in places like Kansas, Oklahoma, the Dakotas and Manitoba. In the past, large bands of elk thrived on the Great Plains and western grasslands where regular wildfires kept the abundant grasses healthy and prevented most trees from sprouting up. Grasslands elk had so much grass that they probably never had to eat much of anything else. Elk of the Plains also learned to follow rivers when they traveled, so the few trees that grew on the prairie could give them security cover.

Mountain Majesty
Most of the elk that survived early settlement and overhunting lived in the Rocky Mountains. They escaped by hiding out in this rough and rugged terrain. In the pine-covered mountains, elk enjoy summer's tender grasses and cool watering holes. Sweet groves of aspen make for a special treat in the fall and winter. But the elk of the mountains must do one thing other elk don't have to do -- migrate. Winter forces elk of the mountains to move down into warmer valleys where they can find less snow and more food.

A Sticky Situation
Thickets of stickery bushes keep lots of people out of the Southwest's chaparral country, but the stickers don't keep the elk away. They slip through this dry country filled with pinon-juniper, scrub oak, prickly pear cactus and thorny shrubs. In the summertime, some of these elk cool off by moving to higher ponderosa pine forests or by hanging out in canyon bottoms and along streamsides. The elk in this part of the country nibble on grasses and shrubs.

East of the Mississippi
Elk once roamed all across the East, and today they're thriving again in places like Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Leafy trees, like oaks, beeches and maples, rather than evergreens rule elks' eastern habitat. Favorite treats of elk in the East include red maple bark and acorns. They especially like to hang out in grassy openings in the hardwoods, near shady swamps and along streamsides. Without towering mountains like out West, elk in the east don't have to migrate up or downhill when the seasons change.