Download is merriam`s elk really extinct?

IS MERRIAM'S ELK REALLY EXTINCT?
J. RICK PURDUE, Illinois State Museum, 101 1 E. Ash Street, Springfield, IL 62703, USA
JAMES R. HEFFELFINGER, Arizona Game and Fish Department, 555 N. Greasewood Road, Tucson, AZ 85745,
USA
KEN E. NICOLLS, Northern Arizona University, P.O. Box 15 105, Flagstaff, AZ 8601 I , USA
Merriam's elk (Cervus elaphus merriani) was described as a large subspecies of the North
American elk that inhabited mountain ranges in the southwestern U.S., primarily in Arizona and
New Mexico until it was presumed extinct by 1906. Starting in 1913, elk from Yellowstone
National Park were translocated to Arizona and the species became reestablished in the state.
Arizona is known for producing large bulls and some people question whether a few small bands
of Merriam's elk persisted until 1913 in the rugged and remote canyons of the White Mountains
in eastern Arizona. If some of these remnants remained, they would have had the opportunity to
interbreed with the small numbers of elk introduced from Yellowstone. Consequently, evidence
of Merriam's elk might be detectable in Arizona's elk herd using modern genetic analysis. To
evaluate this possibility, we studied the mitochondria1 DNA of elk from Arizona and
Yellowstone National Park. Of interest is whether there is evidence of any genetic material in
current Arizona elk that can not be traced to the Yellowstone population. A total of 82 DNA
samples from Arizona's present elk population were collected throughout all of northern
Arizona. The last Merriam's elk were reported near Mt. Ord, which is also the location of the
Merriam's elk type specimen. Many samples for this analysis were collected on winter range
from the elk population that summers near Mt. Ord. In addition, 46 samples were collected from
the Yellowstone North Herd, the precise source of all Arizona elk. Examining modem samples
from the two areas with Single-Strand Conformation Polymorphism (SSCP), we found seven
genetic variants, none of which were unique to Arizona. Two genetic variants were unique to
Yellowstone, but rare. The proportion of the genetic variants in the Arizona elk herd was very
similar to that in Yellowstone. These data suggested that Merriam's elk was indeed extinct
before the reintroductions and did not contribute to the present-day Arizona elk herd. An
alternate hypothesis questions the validity of Merriam's elk as a legitimate subspecies, as have
recent genetic studies for other presumed subspecies in the Rocky Mountain region. To address
this possibility, we are in the process of examining the DNA of elk collected in Arizona before
the arrival of the animals from Yellowstone. There are 3 Merriam's elk specimens in existence.
DNA has been successfully extracted from one such specimen housed at the University of
Arizona (known as "the Jesse Burke Rack). We used sequencing of a 111-basepair (bp) portion
of the mtDNA control region to compare this sample to the analogous 111 bp segment from
individuals representing all other subspecies. The sequence of this specimen differs from all
other individuals (representing all extant subspecies) by an average of 3-6bp. In contrast, when
sequences from animals representing all extant subspecies were compared to each other they
differed by only 0-4bp. This specimen differed more (i.e., had more basepair differences) from
elk representing all other extant subspecies, than the other subspecies differed from each another.
This is only a small portion of DNA (1 1lbp) and it is only one individual so these results are
very preliminary, but it indicates native Arizona elk may have differed from those farther north.
Analysis of the other museum specimens will shed further light on the validity of C. e. merriami.