Alces

Alces is a genus of artiodactyl mammals, family Cervidae, subfamily Capreolinae, tribe Alceini, and includes the largest living species of the deer family. The genus contains one extant species, Alces alces, known as the elk in Europe and the moose in North America, along with the fossil species Alces gallicus from the Pleistocene epoch, though the taxonomic treatment of the fossil form remains debated. Living populations range across northern Europe, northwestern Asia, North America and northeastern Asia, occurring in Siberia, Scandinavia, Russia, Canada and Alaska. European and North American populations differ in chromosome count, with elk carrying 68 chromosomes against the moose's 70, though this difference does not prevent hybridization where the two populations' ranges overlap along Siberia's Yenisei River.