This right here is a 1-in-100,000 elk.
It’s not everyday that you get to see an animal out in the wild with a genetic mutation. This photographer out in Cody, Wyoming just so happened to be in the right place at the right time and spotted an incredibly rare piebald elk. The odds of seeing a piebald animal are very low, and there’s a lot that plays into that.
Piebald is a genetic condition that causes some portions of the skin, fur or hair to lack pigmentation. Most of the time, that results in black and white spots, or in some cases brown and white spots, popping up on the animal. Regardless, it creates a unique color pattern that makes the creature stand out from the rest.
Obviously, an elk that’s mostly white, or just partly white, is going to stick out like a sore thumb in the grassy habitats that they usually call home, which makes them more prone to being attacked. In addition, being piebald is often accompanied with genetic issues, like skeletal deformities that can significantly shorten an animal’s lifespan. All that to say, there might be a large number of piebald animals born out in the wild… but a lot of them don’t survive long enough for anyone to see them.
This one in Cody, Wyoming bucked that trend though. The young, cow elk was spotted hanging out with the rest of the herd, and appears to be healthy. According to Karie Decker, the director of Wildlife and Habitat for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, it’s a very rare elk, and one that’s somewhat of a miracle considering the mortality rate of young piebald elk is high:
“We generally say it’s less than 1% of the population. It’s hard to pin down because a lot of fawns that are born with this condition don’t live very long, so you don’t actually see them in the wild.”
So against all odds, this piebald elk exists, and photographer Michael Moore was able to capture its beauty and wonder on camera. He spoke with Cowboy State Daily and said that he was just going out to the Cody, Wyoming area to see some elk. He never expected to see one of the most uncommon wildlife anomalies on the planet:
“Every year, there’s always a bunch of elk on the J Bar 9 Ranch, right off the highway. I always like to look at the elk when they’re in the rut. There was one elk that stood out. It was far above the others. I took a look at it, got it closer with my zoom lens, and saw that it was one of those piebald elk. It was definitely worth the drive.”
Worth the drive indeed.
Seeing a piebald animal is something that wild photographers often dream of. And not only are they extraordinary and unusual… some cultures believe that piebald, leucistic, and albino animals are actually magical. At the very least, piebald animals were often viewed to be spirits or signs of good luck.
There’s no doubt that photographer Michael Moore was feeling lucky as he snapped some pictures of the 1-in-100,000 cow elk.
