The extinct Irish elk, or Megaloceros giganteus,is a bit of a misnomer, since this creature was actually the largest animal that ever existed in the deer family (sorry, moosefans). is that deer in general, that species with a larger body have larger antlers that can affect the antler size during the development of the newborn deer. giganteus did not even have to turn its head to present the antlers to best effect, but could accomplish this by simply looking straight ahead. Robert Clark THE huge antlers and other bones pictured here belong to an extinct Irish elk that once roamed across ice age Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. Mar 24th 2021 Posted in Wide Open Spaces We set out to explore the saga of the Irish elk, an animal that last lived more than 11,000 years ago and counting. It has also been suggested that they eventually became so unwieldy that the Irish Elk could not carry on the normal business of life and so became extinct. One theory was that their antlers, under constant and strong sexual selection, increased in size because males were using them in combat for access to females. The size of Irish Elk antlers are distinctive, and several theories have arisen as to their evolution. giganteus skeletons can be found at the Natural History Museum in Dublin. The Irish Elk is estimated to have attained a total mass of 540–600 kg (1,190–1,320 lb), with large specimens having weighed 700 kg (1,500 lb) or more, roughly similar to the Alaskan Moose. In body size, the Irish Elk matched the extant moose subspecies of Alaska (Alces alces gigas) as the largest known deer. The Irish Elk stood about 2.1 metres (6.9 ft) tall at the shoulders carrying the largest antlers of any known cervid, a maximum of 3.65 m (12.0 ft) from tip to tip and weighing up to 40 kg (88 lb). Its range extended across Eurasia during the Pleistocene, from Ireland to Lake Baikal in Siberia. For this reason, the name "Giant Deer" is sometimes preferred. The Irish elk ( Megaloceros giganteus ), 1 2 also called the giant deer or Irish deer, is an extinct species of deer in the genus Megaloceros and is one of the largest deer that ever lived. Although most skeletons have been found in Irish bogs, the animal was not exclusively Irish and was not closely related to either of the living species currently called elk.
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