This elk figures out a solution that most cows cannot.
If you've ever traveled around the American west, you've seen cattle guards before. These tubular metal structures are designed to be easy to pass over for humans and vehicles. At the same time, they are used to deter cows and other hooved animals from passing over them because their legs can get stuck.
Since they work on cows, you would think they'd work on elk. Both have hooves. Surely they aren't smart enough to bypass something like that. Right?
Or are they? This cool footage shared by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation shows otherwise.
It's clear to us this wasn't the first time this bull has done this. He hardly hesitated going up to the side and carefully stepping only where it was safe for him to place his feet. A few people who commented on the video that they had seen elk do the same thing on other gates before. Elk are smarter than a lot of people give them credit.
Although, it shouldn't be too surprising when you consider the mountainous terrain many elk call home. These animals have no trouble traversing rocky areas. Elk also like to hang out in areas with tons of fallen trees and logs in more heavily forested regions. These animals must be nimble and quick on their feet in order to survive in treacherous terrain.
When you take that into consideration, crossing a simple cattle guard isn't much of a challenge at all. Still, we got a good laugh out of this video, and we appreciate the reminder that one of our favorite big game animals is much more clever than we realized!
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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