27. Biologist Wants to Estimate the Number of Elk in a Wildlife
A biologist wants to estimate the number of elk in a wildlife preserve. She sedates 125 elk and clips a small radio transmitter onto the ear of each animal. The elk returns to the wild, and after 6 months, the biologist studies a sample of 920 elk in the preserve. Of the 920 eld sampled, 34 have radio transmitters. Approximately how many elk are in the whole preserve?
Submitted by tartle · Added 17 January 2013 · Updated 2 July 2026
Solution:
The biologist can use the capture-recapture method to estimate the total elk population. If 125 elk were initially tagged and 34 out of 920 sampled elk have transmitters, the estimated total elk population is calculated as (920 * 125) / 34, which equals approximately 3,382 elk in the preserve.
Comments (3)
24894 to the nearest whole elk
Since sample proportion is an unbiased estimator for population proportion:
920*125/34=3382 (to the nearest elk)
34/920 elks are tagged
so 125/3382.35 are tagged (estimate based on equivalent fractions)
So about 3382 is the total
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