America's Animals

More Prey

Elk

Elk are some of North America's largest animals. While smaller than moose, elk are still some of the largest of the deer family, with the females, called cows, weighing about 500 pounds and standing 4 feet at the shoulder, and males, called bulls, weighing about 700 pounds and being about a foot taller. Like their other relatives in the deer family, the bulls grow antlers in the spring that are used in the fall, in fights with other bulls over the females. In the fall breeding season, the bulls advertise their readiness to breed by bugling, a very distinctive sound that can be heard for miles. Elk can be preyed upon by wolves and coyotes, cougars, and bears.

Chipmunk

Unlike their cousins, rats and mice, chipmunks seem to know how to charm many humans. Scampering briskly about, looking trim and tidy in their striped coats, busily stuffing seeds and other food items into their cheek pouches, chipmunks are undeniably cute. They look for food both on the ground and in trees, and build extensive burrows with multiple entrances. Chipmunks are social, communicating by sounds and scents to warn other chipmunks of predators, and to guard their own territories. Hawks, owls, foxes, coyotes, bobcats, and lynxes are among the many predators of chipmunks.

Roseate Spoonbill

With a four-foot wingspan and weighing up to 4 pounds, a roseate spoonbill is a good-sized bird, with beautiful pink coloration similar to a flamingo's. Unlike the large, heavy, angled beak of a flamingo, though, a roseate spoonbill has a flat, straight beak that spreads out at the tip into the spoon shape from which the second half of their name is taken. Adult roseate spoonbills prey on crustaceans, aquatic insects, and very small fish, but their eggs and young birds can fall prey to coyotes, raccoons, and turkey vultures.