Elk are found in a range of woodland habitats, both coniferous and broadleaved, from the tundra and taiga southwards through boreal to temperate zones. This species prefers a mosaic of second-growth boreal forest, openings, swamps, lakes and wetlands. It thrives in secondary growth, and its population expansion in Scandinavia has been linked to the replacement of natural taiga forest by secondary woodland after logging (Bauer and Nygrén 1999). It is also found in open country in lowlands and mountains, including farmland, if there is forest nearby. Elk also utilise lakes shores and seashore areas. The species avoids hot summer conditions by utilizing dense shade or bodies of water. It feeds on vegetative parts of various broadleaf trees, preferring birch, ashes and willow in the spring and summer and the twigs of these species as well as of fir, alpine, and juniper in the autumn and winter. It also eats shrubs, such as blueberry and heather, dwarf shrubs, herbs, and aquatic plants and can be a pest of agriculture and forestry in at least parts of its range (Ruusila and Kojola 2010, Ma Yiqing pers. comm.).

Females become sexually mature after two years, with males maturing at four years (but usually do not have the opportunity to mate until age 6-8; SLU Artdatabanken 2020), and the maximum life span is about 20 years (Peterson 1977). It is active throughout the day and night, although there are peaks at dawn and especially at dusk.

Populations can be limited or regulated by complex interactions of ecological factors that vary from population to population, or ecosystem to ecosystem. Winter weather (snow accumulation) may strongly affect subpopulations, even more so than wolf density (Mech et al. 1987); however, Messier (1991) found that competition for food, but not wolf predation and snow, had a regulatory impact on the species. Van Ballenberghie and Ballard (1994) found that in some naturally regulated ecosystems, predation by bears and wolves often is limiting and may be regulating under certain conditions. Messier (1994) developed population models of Elk-Wolf interactions. Under favourable conditions, populations are capable of large annual increases (20-25%) in population size.

The lack of habitat connectivity is probably the most significant limitation on the recovery of Elk subpopulations in Central Europe (Bluhm et al. 2023).

In Europe, the Elk has a continuous distribution extending through Norway, Sweden (absent from Gotland), Finland, the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), European Russia, Belarus, Poland and northern Ukraine. Formerly, three isolated subpopulations were reported in southern Czechia (Hundertmark 2016), but at present, only one subpopulation is extant, near the Lipno Dam in southern Czechia, with occasional vagrant Elk observed in other areas (Jensen et al. 2020); this subpopulation extends to adjacent parts of Germany and Austria (Janík et al. 2021). In Austria, occasional migrants are recorded as far south as the Danube River (Jensen et al. 2020). There are occasional records from Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Moldova (Jensen et al. 2020) (not mapped). In Denmark, Elk immigrate to Zealand from Sweden most years, most recently in 2018, but with no established subpopulation (Aarhus Universitet 2022). It ranges from sea level up to at least 1,500 m in Europe (H. Henttonen pers. comm. 2006).

In northern Eurasia, out of the European region, the range extends eastwards to the Sea of Okhotsk and south to northern Kazakhstan, northern China (northern Xinjiang), and possibly northern Mongolia (Wilson and Reeder 2005). It has been extinct in the Caucasus region since the 19th century (Wilson and Reeder 2005) but has been extending its range southwards along the rivers into the northern Caucasus lowlands.

In North America, the species occurs in Alaska and Canada south through the Rocky Mountains, northern Great Lakes, and to New England. The species is estimated to have arrived in North America from Asia about 11,000-14,000 years ago, shortly before flooding of the Bering land bridge (Hundertmark et al. 2002). The species' range has decreased over the past 100 years in the southern boreal forest regions in the eastern provinces of Canada (e.g., Beazley et al. 2006), but has expanded in other areas. In recent decades, it has expanded its range westward into the coastal temperate rainforests of British Columbia and some coastal islands (Darimont et al. 2005). These changes have been due to habitat changes caused by humans in boreal and rainforest ecosystems. The Elk was introduced but since extirpated in New Zealand (Nugent et al. 2001, Boyeskorov 1999, Grubb in Wilson and Reeder 2005).

This species is listed on Appendix III of the Bern Convention. It occurs in a large number of protected areas across its range (Wemmer 1998, European mammal assessment workshop 2006). The species is subject to intense management in some countries through hunting quotas (e.g. in Finland: Ruusila and Kojola 2010). It is protected under national legislation in a number of countries (e.g. Germany). In Poland, a moratorium (year-round protection) on harvesting the species has been in force since 2001, with a review underway to consider whether hunting should be allowed based on population size increase (Dziki-Michalska et al. 2019).

The species is listed as Least Concern in Estonia (eElurikkus 2019), Norway (Artsdatabanken 2021), Sweden (SLU Artdatabanken 2020), and Finland (Hyvärinen et al. 2019). The species was not evaluated for Latvia (considered Least Concern; D. Telnov pers. comm. 2023) and Lithuania.

The major conservation concern is extensive regional and landscape scale habitat change. Although Ferguson et al. (2000) did not analyse populations considered to be at risk, they identified populations occurring in areas with low primary productivity and low natural predation, show the least persistence and require the greatest conservation effort. Both low primary productivity and predation usually occur where humans have caused extensive habitat disturbance. This species thrives where protected from overkill by humans or predators.