Could Elk be domesticated and ridden?

The Indians may not have had horses, but their food scientists invented corn and potatoes, both of which are far superior to the various forms of grass eaten in the old world. It's probably thanks to horses that the knowledge of eating grass spread through all the old world continents.

Corn used to be a grass too, but it has been bred so that the seed pod is a giant ear of gluten-free juicy kernels instead. Nobody knows how they did this. In a couple of weeks America will once again celebrate the day when the Indians taught the pilgrims how to eat corn instead of grass. You probably never noticed that wheat items are not a traditional part of that dinner, but corn is essential.

Now that I think about it, horses eat grass. It just may be that the humans who started hanging out with horses picked up some of their habits. Then they spread this bad influence around their continent.

Sure, they even have built in handlebars.

Great post. My Signifigant Other is a Hunter/Jumper trainer. I'll bounce this off her.

I'd like a yak, actually.

The females are too small and the males have antlers half the time. Typically when riding a horse you are going to fly over the ears from time to time. Not pretty if you run into a sharp spike.

Their back is really not conducive to any sort of saddle.

I'm sure you could get an Elk to the point where you could ride it but you need ALL of a species to be breakable to make it worthwhile.

Where do you get the goofy notion that cultivation doesn't involve food science? Do you suppose maize and potatoes got big and fat by natural selection?

If you think you're a better scientist than the Incas, let's see you build a giant earthquake-proof stone fortress on a mountaintop without using wheels or iron tools.

I'm a certified Elk-ologist and I specialize in selective breeding. Because of the Elk rib cage, you cannot safely attached a saddle.

"Because of the Elk rib cage, you cannot safely attached a saddle."

There is a Wyoming cowboy in the pic link posted in the thread that proves you wrong, pardner.

That's not an Elk, take a closer look.

Wapiti wrote:

Yet I've never heard of one being properly domesticated, much less broken to ride.

It is pretty safe to bet that-- if we haven't domesticated one yet-- it can't be done.

Wapiti wrote:

It seems to me that the ungulate in N America which is parallel to the horse/camel is the American Elk. Yet I've never heard of one being properly domesticated, much less broken to ride.

Actually the ungulate that's "parallel" is more likely the llama, which is actually a close relative of the camel (they can interbreed and produce hybrids, though only through artificial insemination). But an adult camel is six times the mass of a llama, which simply doesn't have the structure to carry a human's weight.

However, larger reindeer/caribou definitely can and have been ridden. I've been told that elk have been too, but it certainly hasn't been a regular thing--if that info even was true.

Getting thrown off a horse sucks... well, you know. Horse phallus. Horses and camels have been in use for ages... longer than you might think. There were times when North Africa and the Sahara was full of fauna and water and temperate climate. A time when chariots came roaring through, a time when camel-riders came sauntering through.

It's going to be an unnerving hundred some generations of Elk taming... even speeding it up with advances in breeding selection (see the fox breeding institute in Siberia) and even then... imagine getting thrown off, kicked and gored by an elk. But yeah, it would be interesting to have a New world counterpart to the mounted cavalry. Elks are just the beginning... Shibby

Nature Scientist wrote:

That's not an Elk, take a closer look.

Agreed, that's a cowboy on an elk.

Butt, this elk-moose rider is much more interesting.

Also see the following episode of Rocko's Modern Life,

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0978164/

No longer available publicly for free on the internets because of da copyright coppers.

Wapiti wrote:

Imagine riding into battle on one of those things!

Imagine riding into battle on a buffalo, and you really can.

I worked with captive (hand reared) elk for my masters. Two words: no way.

Not tractable. Nor are they big enough to carry a full sized person.

Co56 wrote:

I worked with captive (hand reared) elk for my masters. Two words: no way.

Not tractable. Nor are they big enough to carry a full sized person.

Canadian Elk also hibernate, like Bears, so the can't be ridden Dec-March.

Nature Scientist wrote:

Co56 wrote:

I worked with captive (hand reared) elk for my masters. Two words: no way.

Not tractable. Nor are they big enough to carry a full sized person.

Canadian Elk also hibernate, like Bears, so the can't be ridden Dec-March.

Bears may be ridden starting april 1st.