<P> A recent necropsy study of captive elk in Pennsylvania attributed the cause of death in 33 of 65 cases to either gastrointestinal parasites (21 cases, primarily Eimeria sp. and Ostertagia sp .) or bacterial infections (12 cases, mostly pneumonia). </P> <P> Elk hoof disease was first noticed in the state of Washington in the late 1990s in the Cowlitz River basin, with sporadic reports of deformed hooves . Since then the disease has spread rapidly with increased sightings throughout South West Washington and into Oregon . The disease is characterised by deformed, broken or missing hooves and leads to severe lameness in elk . The primary cause is not known but it is associated with Treponeme bacteria which are known to cause digital dermatitis in commercial livestock . The mode of transmission is also not known but it appears to be highly contagious amongst elk . Studies are being undertaken by government department to determine how to halt or eliminate the disease . </P> <P> Modern subspecies are descended from elk that once inhabited Beringia, a steppe region between Asia and North America that connected the two continents during the Pleistocene . Beringia provided a migratory route for numerous mammal species, including brown bear, camel, horse, caribou, and moose, as well as humans . As the Pleistocene came to an end, ocean levels began to rise; elk migrated southwards into Asia and North America . In North America they adapted to almost all ecosystems except for tundra, true deserts, and the gulf coast of the U.S. The elk of southern Siberia and central Asia were once more widespread but today are restricted to the mountain ranges west of Lake Baikal including the Sayan and Altai Mountains of Mongolia and the Tianshan region that borders Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and China's Xinjiang Province . The habitat of Siberian elk in Asia is similar to that of the Rocky Mountain subspecies in North America . </P> <P> Throughout their range, they live in forest and in forest edge habitat, similar to other deer species . In mountainous regions, they often dwell at higher elevations in summer, migrating down slope for winter . The highly adaptable elk also inhabit semi-deserts in North America, such as the Great Basin . Manchurian and Alashan wapiti are primarily forest dwellers and their smaller antler size is a likely adaptation to a forest environment . </P>

Where are elk found in the united states
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