Elk size comparison: how big are they?

Just take a look at the picture below, where a moose is walking in front of a group of people. Elks are tall! But how big are moose? In this complete elk size comparison guide, we’ll look at comparing elk to species like moose, horses, and even humans. Let’s start!

Elk Size Comparison: Moose Types

Before we get started, it is important to note that there are many types of moose in different sizes. For example, there are four subspecies of moose in North America. In Europe, moose are called moose (we know this is confusing!) And there are four more subspecies.

Here are some of the main characteristics of the different types of moose:

• The largest subspecies of elk is the Alaska Yukon elk. Incredibly, the largest Alaskan moose ever recorded weighed 1808 pounds. Alaska moose have horns over 80 inches!
• The largest Eurasian elk species is the East Siberian elk. These moose are only slightly smaller than Alaska moose and can reportedly weigh over 1,600 pounds.
• Yellowstone Elk is the smallest elk subspecies in North America. The National Park Service reports that male Yellowstone moose weigh about 1,000 pounds.
• The smallest subspecies of elk lives in the Amur region near the border of Russia and China. Even as a “little dung”, this elk can grow to about six feet!

With some moose standing more than 7 feet at the shoulders, they are tall creatures. Let’s compare the growth of an elk with the growth of other animals.

Comparison of the sizes of moose and humans

You are lost and disoriented in a forested area in northern Alaska as you step out from behind a tree and find yourself face to face with a giant. This is an elk. Are you face to face?

Perhaps if you really high!

Alaskan moose can often be over 7 feet tall. In fact, the largest Alaskan moose ever recorded measured 7 feet 7 inches in shoulders! By comparison, that’s an inch taller than Yao Ming, one of the tallest players in the NBA!

Remember, however, that these measurements for moose simply reach their shoulder. An elk that raised its head above shoulder level would become even taller. Considering the size of the antlers, the hoof-to-antler distance of a moose with its head up could potentially reach over 10 feet, which is higher than an NBA basketball hoop!

Elk size versus horse

Now that we have established that the tallest elk had about 7 feet 7 inches in shoulders, how does that compare to a horse?

Horses are measured to the withers, which is the ridge between the shoulder blades. Thoroughbred horses average about 5 feet 4 inches at the withers, which means that the average male Alaskan elk will be one and a half feet taller at the shoulders.

However, horses have very much variable height. The tallest horse was a Belgian gelding named Big Jake, who was 82.75 inches tall. This is the height, this Little shorter than 7 feet tall. This means that the tallest horse in the world will be about the same height as a male Alaskan elk. However, it will still be almost 9 inches shorter at the shoulder than the tallest elk ever recorded!

Comparison of the sizes of moose and moose

The elk is really tall, isn’t it? Compared to most species of deer, this would be true. However, compared to moose, moose simply outperform them.

Moose bulls reach a shoulder height of about 5 feet. This means that, standing next to a large Alaskan elk, they would be almost two feet shorter! Male moose weigh about half the weight of an adult bull Alaskan moose.

However, comparing an elk and an elk standing next to each other may not seem as harsh as expected. North America’s moose range does not extend to Alaska, which means that most of the interactions between moose and moose will occur between the much smaller Yellowstone moose, which measure about 6 feet at the shoulders.

Comparison of the sizes of an elk and an elephant

We are tired of moose overwhelming all other size comparisons, so we finally made it an unfair fight.

African elephants can reach 13 feet at the shoulder, while Asian elephants can reach 11 feet at the shoulder. However, there is a scenario in which elephants and moose can meet face to face.

Like moose, male elephants are larger than females. Female Asian elephants are on average slightly less than 8 feet tall at the shoulders. This means that the largest bull elk ever recorded, standing next to an average female Asian elephant, would have roughly the same height at the shoulders.

This may be an unlikely scenario, but the bottom line is that moose very tall creatures!