Alces

{{Short description|Genus of deer}} {{Automatic taxobox | name= ''Alces'' | image = Elk-telemark.jpg | image_caption= ''Alces alces alces'', bull, Telemark, Norway | taxon = Alces | authority = Gray, 1821 | type_species = ''Cervus alces'' | type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = *''Alces alces'' *†''Alces gallicus''? }}

'''''Alces''''' is a genus of artiodactyl mammals, that includes the largest species of the deer family.<ref name=MSW>{{Cite web|url=http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/biology/resources/msw3/browse.asp?s=y&id=14200207|title=Genus ''Alces''|website=Mammal Species of the World|publisher=Bucknell University}}</ref>

== Taxonomy == Current thinking accepts two species in genus, the extant elk or moose (''Alces alces'') and the fossil ''Alces gallicus'' (also known as the Villafranchian elk<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Besiou | first1=Eva | last2=Choupa | first2=Maria | last3=Lyras | first3=George | last4=van der Geer | first4=Alexandra | title=Body mass divergence in sympatric deer species of Pleistocene Crete (Greece) | journal=Palaeontologia Electronica | date=2022 | doi=10.26879/1221 | doi-access=free | url=http://palaeo-electronica.org/content/pdfs/1221.pdf | access-date=2025-10-31 | page=5}}</ref> or weighing scale elk<ref name="norfolk">{{cite web | title=Geology fact sheet: Deer | url=https://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/media/14249/Fossils-Geology-Fact-Sheet-Deer/pdf/ppfossils-geology-fact-sheet-deer.pdf | access-date=2025-10-31}}</ref>), that existed in the Pleistocene about 2 million years ago. Sometimes only one species is included in the genus, the modern elk or moose (''Alces alces''), with the extinct Villafranchian elk being referred to a separate genus, either in ''Cervalces'',<ref name="norfolk"/> or ''Libralces'',<ref name="paleodb">{{Cite web | title = ''Libralces'' | publisher = Paleobiology Database | url = https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=42677 | access-date=2025-10-31 }}</ref> since the structure of its antlers differed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://quarter.ginras.ru/personal/nikolsky/docs/nikolskiy_autoreferat.pdf|title=TAXONOMY AND STRATIGRAPHIC SIGNIFICANCE OF MOOSE (''ALCINI, CERVIDAE, MAMMALIA'') IN THE LATE CENOZOIC OF EURASIA AND NORTH AMERICA|access-date=2024-12-05}}</ref>

Sometimes the species ''Alces alces'' is divided into two separate species, the elk (''A. alces'' sensu stricto, in northern Europe and northwestern Asia) and the moose (''A. americanus'', in North America and northeastern Asia),<ref name=MSW2>{{Cite web|url=https://www.departments.bucknell.edu/biology/resources/msw3/browse.asp?s=y&id=14200207|title=Species ''Alces americanus''|website=Mammal Species of the World|publisher=Bucknell University}}</ref> but recent opinion has tended to treat these as subspecies of one species.<ref name="IUCN">{{cite journal | title=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species | journal=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species | date=2015-09-27 | url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/56003281/22157381 | access-date=2025-10-31 | page=}}</ref> In this treatment, the moose includes all subspecies of ''Alces alces'' except the European elk (nominate ''A. a. alces'') and the recently extinct Caucasian elk (''A. a. caucasicus''), which belong to the elk group. Whether there is one or two modern species in the genus remains controversial. These animals were often divided into two species because the North American and Asian animals have a greater number of chromosomes than the European subspecies; elk have 68 chromosomes, while moose have 70.<ref name="брэ">{{БРЭ|статья=Лоси|автор=Щипанов Н. А., Аверьянов А. О., Баранов А. В.|том=18|страницы=61—62|ссылка=https://old.bigenc.ru/biology/text/2158728|архив=https://web.archive.org/web/20221021043929/https://bigenc.ru/biology/text/2158728|архив дата=2022-10-21}}</ref><ref name=RM2004>{{Книга:Разнообразие млекопитающих|3|с=851}}</ref> However, this does not prevent extensive hybridisation where their ranges meet along the Yenisei in Siberia.<ref name="IUCN"/>

== Gallery == <gallery> File:Alces alces, female, Fokstumyra naturreservat, Norway 4.jpg|Elk (''A. alces alces''), cow, Fokstumyra, Norway File:Elk (Alces alces alces) female Oppdal.jpg|Elk (''A. alces alces''), cow, Oppdal, Norway File:Bigbullmoose.jpg|Alaska moose (''A. alces gigas'' or ''A. americanus gigas''), bull, Alaska File:Bull shiras moose (Alces alces shirasi).webm|Shiras moose (''A. alces shirasi'' or ''A. americanus shirasi''), bull, Wyoming File:Moose (3544006789).jpg|Eastern moose (''A. alces americanus'' or ''A. americanus americanus'') </gallery>

== References == {{reflist}}

Category:Alces Category:Alceini Category:Mammals of Asia Category:Mammals of Europe Category:Mammals of North America Category:Taxa described in 1821 Category:Taxa named by John Edward Gray Category:Mammal genera with one living species