Visitors to Alberta's national parks and the Rocky Mountains are being warned to watch out for more than just bears, when it comes to potentially dangerous wildlife.

Elk calving season is underway, with cow elk giving birth and starting to raise their offspring from mid-May to early July. The risk around aggressive elk encounters during this season is why Nick de Ruyter, the WildSmart program director at the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley, has dubbed them "the most dangerous animal in Alberta, by far."

Many people are likely to have misconceptions around elk, de Ruyter said, and potentially think they're harmless herbivores.

"They don't have big sharp teeth and claws, so people think they're really tame animals," he said.

Male elk shed and then regrow their antlers every year. B

See Full Page