Elk habituation as a credibility challenge for wildlife professionals

We offer our perspectives on challenges facing the wildlife profession if h abituation behavior becomes prevalent in North American elk (Cervus elaphus ). We find it increasingly difficult to ignore habituation in our work with elk and the public in western Montana. The scientific literature documents elk avoidance responses to human activities, but does not provide informat ion to managers that would reconcile apparent contradictions we observe of elk habituation responses in urban fringe areas. Conversations with elk man agers and researchers across western North America suggest that elk habitua tion is a management issue of emerging importance as elk and human populati ons expand. We examine habituation as an adaptive behavioral strategy for m aximizing reproductive fitness and predict that habituated elk populations will be common across the Rocky Mountain west in the 21(st) century. To red uce habituation risk, managers should consider options that may differ radi cally from traditional elk management strategies (i.e., to protect elk habi tat). We challenge researchers to describe relationships between increasing levels of habituation in elk and environmental factors within management c ontrol.