No Contest<\/p>\n
Bison and elk have peacefully cohabitated in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem for hundreds of thousands of years. But if they ever come into conflict, the showdown at the North Carolina Zoo isn\u2019t an accurate representation of what would happen.<\/p>\n
A mature bull elk can weigh between 700 and 1,200 pounds, while an average cow elk weighs around 1,000 pounds. Between their bulk and build, even a maximum-sized bull elk would have\u00a0little chance against a bison<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ecologist, author, and bison advocate George Wuerthner believes the circumstances of this encounter can\u2019t be ignored. The zoo\u2019s 11-acre enclosure is a far cry from the vast expanse of Yellowstone National Park.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you have a fenced enclosure, the animals don\u2019t have the ability to choose where they can go to avoid conflict,\u201d he said. \u201cIn a more open situation, as you would have in the wild, they can separate without being in direct competition.\u201d<\/p>\n Bison and elk can cohabitate because they have plenty of space to spread out as they forage for food. In Wuerthner\u2019s experience, they tend not to intermingle.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t see elk grazing in the middle of bison herds,\u201d he said. \u201cHerd animals don\u2019t have territories, like wolves, because they\u2019re feeding on plants that are widely dispersed. You might see bison and elk grazing in the same field, but they\u2019ll be hundreds of yards apart.\u201d<\/p>\n Tommy the bull elk might have decided that antagonizing a bison might have been a great way to impress his harem of cow elk, or perhaps he was just bored. That\u2019s the safety that comes from a cushy zoo life.<\/p>\n If bison and elk ever came into direct competition, it would probably be over food. Everybody likes grass.<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s quite a bit of dietary overlap between bison and elk,\u201d Wuerthner said. Bison are primarily grass eaters. Elk can eat other things, like willows and shrubs, but they prefer to eat grass.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the National Park Service, grasses, sedges, and other grass-like plants make up 90% of a bison\u2019s diet. They will occasionally eat woody plants and \u201cbrowse,\u201d like leaves and stems, but that\u2019s a fraction of their dietary intake.<\/p>\n Elk, meanwhile, eat anything from grasses, herbs, and shrubs to tree bark, conifer needles, and aquatic plants. While they are primarily grazers, they have a more generalized diet than bison.<\/p>\n Wuerthner said that\u2019s one of the reasons why elk are more abundant than bison. Their broader dietary options mean they can thrive in areas that bison would tend to avoid.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen (The Great Fire of 1910) burned through northern Idaho, it killed a lot of the mature trees, and the regrowth was all sorts of shrubby vegetation,\u201d he said. \u201cThat led to a massive increase in the number of elk in those areas, because they could utilize that for food. Bison would eat those shrubs, but they\u2019re far more preferable to grass.\u201d<\/p>\n Elk can also traverse rougher terrain than bison. While bison prefer grazing in flat, open areas, elk can ascend into high-elevation, mountainous areas to feed on whatever\u2019s growing there.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why there is less direct competition between elk and bison,\u201d Wuerthner said. \u201cElk are nimbler than bison, and they can tap into the food they aren\u2019t going after. There’s always more grass just up the next hillside.\u201d<\/p>\n Gluten Grazing Intolerance<\/p>\n Wyomingites are more likely to encounter elk than bison in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, but that\u2019s not only because of their dietary preferences and habitats. Elk are, overall, wanted and tolerated more than bison.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s a lot of dietary overlap between bison and elk, there\u2019s tremendous overlap between bison and domestic cattle. According to Wuerthner, that overlap dictates where bison are allowed to exist in the Cowboy State.<\/p>\n \u201cGrazing livestock is not allowed in Yellowstone, so (ranchers) are trying to bottle up bison in the park,\u201d he said. \u201cIf bison were allowed on national forest lands outside of Yellowstone, which are open to grazing, that would inevitably lead to a situation where forage becomes a competition between livestock and bison.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Tommy,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Elk-vs-bison-10.18.25.jpg\")
Tommy, a bull elk at the North Carolina Zoo, picked a fight with a bison \u2014 and won. Tommy wouldn’t have fared as well had the showdown happened in Wyoming, where the bison are bigger, bulkier and more belligerent when challenged. (Courtesy North Carolina Zoo)Grass Is Always Greener<\/p>\n
![\"Tommy,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Bison-vs-Elk-559054380_1244381787729471_9047867185645145351_n-10.18.25.jpg\")
Tommy, a bull elk at the North Carolina Zoo, picked a fight with a bison \u2014 and won. Tommy wouldn’t have fared as well had the showdown happened in Wyoming, where the bison are bigger, bulkier and more belligerent when challenged. (Courtesy North Carolina Zoo)Push Comes To Shove<\/p>\n