Video: The Little Elk That Could

Elk can thrive in some of the roughest back country habitats our country offers—so one getting defeated by a relatively small fence would have to represent the height of embarrassment, if the massive mammals felt such things. That's what happened last week, though, as seen in a video that's made its rounds on the web the last few days.

The video, filmed near the region of Yellowstone National Park that extends into Montana, begins with the juvenile elk's herd systematically leaping a fence in order to cross the road and reach a neighboring field. If you look closely, you'll see that the man-made divider provides something of a challenge for more than a few of the younger, smaller elk in the group—but they all do, eventually, get over.

The star of our video, though, seems particularly timid about taking the leap. The young elk makes a number of attempts to simply walk over the fence, but only succeeds in getting tangled up. I've been there, my friend, believe me.

It then seems to try the (very crafty) approach of walking up and down the fence line in hopes of finding an opening. That plan also fails, though I do appreciate the outside-the-box thinking.

Finally, after getting spooked by a passing SUV and backing up a bit, the little elk throws caution to the wind, gets a running start and catapults itself over the fence with ease. Mission accomplished. It quickly caught up with its herd on the other side of the road.

Watch the whole scene play out for yourself with the video embedded below. If you're looking for more elk-related humor, check out my earlier posts regarding a camera shy bull and a cow with an interesting accessory.