Irish elk

The Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus), also called the giant deer or Irish deer, is an extinct species of deer in the genus Megaloceros. It is one of the largest deer that ever lived. Its range extended across northern Eurasia during the Pleistocene, from Ireland to Lake Baikal in Siberia.

The most recent remains of the Irish elk have been found to be about 7,700 years old in western Russia. What makes this deer truly amazing is its huge antlers, which can span over 4.2 metres (13.8 feet) across—the largest known of any deer. Even though it is called an elk, scientists agree that its closest living relatives are fallow deer (Dama), not the animals we call elk today.

Taxonomy

Research history

The first scientist to describe the Irish elk was Irish doctor Thomas Molyneux in 1695. He noticed big antlers dug up in Ireland and thought they came from elk, which are also called moose in North America. In 1799, another scientist named Johann Friedrich Blumenbach gave it the scientific name Alce gigantea. He described it as a huge fossil elk from Ireland.

Later, in 1812, French scientist Georges Cuvier said the Irish elk was not related to any living animal. In 1827, Joshua Brookes created a new group name for it called Megaloceros, meaning “great horn” in Greek. Over time, the name Megaloceros giganteus became the accepted scientific name for this giant deer.

Evolution

The Irish elk belonged to the genus Megaloceros. Scientists are still unsure where this species first appeared, but it likely was not in Western Europe. The oldest known fossils of this species are from places like England and Germany, dating back hundreds of thousands of years.

Many Irish elk fossils have been found in Ireland, especially from around 13,000 years ago. Scientists have studied their DNA and found that they were closely related to both red deer and another species called fallow deer. This helps us understand how they evolved and where they fit among other deer species.

Description

The Irish elk was a very large deer that stood about 2 meters (6 feet 7 inches) tall at the shoulders. It had huge flat and broad antlers, the largest of any known deer. Some antlers reached 4.26 meters (14 feet) from tip to tip and weighed as much as 40 kilograms (88 pounds). These antlers were much larger than those of modern moose.

The Irish elk was also very heavy, weighing between 450 and 600 kilograms (990 to 1,320 pounds), and maybe even more. This made it one of the heaviest known deer, about the same weight as the largest moose today. Male Irish elk were larger than females, which were about 80% the size of males. The Irish elk had a special shape to its skull and bones, which made it easy to tell apart from other deer. Based on old cave paintings, the Irish elk likely had light-colored fur with dark stripes and a dark hump on its back, which may have helped it run faster or store fat.

Habitat

The Irish elk lived across a wide area, from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to Lake Baikal in the east. They preferred areas with scattered spruce and pine trees, along with low plants like grasses, sedges, Ephedra, Artemisia, and Chenopodiaceae. During warmer times before the current era, they could also be found in forested areas of Europe, where they often had smaller antlers to help them move through the trees.

Palaeobiology

Physiology

A Canadian scientist thought the Irish elk was made for running and stamina. It looked a lot like reindeer. It had short legs, long front legs almost as long as its back legs, and a strong, cylindrical body. Animals like saiga antelope, gnus, and reindeer can run really fast and keep it up for a while.

Reproduction

Mounted skeletons of a buck (left) and a doe

Scientists found over 100 Irish elk in one place, and they were all small males. This suggests that male and female Irish elk stayed apart during certain seasons. Many deer do this because males and females need different foods. The males might have fought for groups of females during mating time. Most of the Irish elk found were young or old and might have died because of harsh winters. Male Irish elk often die more because they don’t eat much during mating season.

The Irish elk had huge antlers, which they probably used to fight other males and show off to females. Scientists think the antlers grew back every year for mating season. Making such big antlers needed a lot of calcium and phosphate, which the males got from their bones and food.

Diet and life history

The teeth of the Irish elk show that they ate both leaves and grass. Scientists found pollen from different plants stuck in their teeth, showing they ate many types of food. Their diet changed with the seasons, and they could eat anything from leaves to grass.

Their bones show they grew fast and lived up to at least 19 years. A big male Irish elk would need to eat a lot every day, especially when growing its huge antlers. They might have eaten plants near lakes and forests to get enough nutrients. Evidence shows that cave hyenas sometimes ate or scavenged Irish elk.

Relationship with early humans

Ancient paintings of the Irish elk can be seen in caves like Chauvet Cave in France, showing how early humans saw these huge animals. Scientists have found bones of Irish elk with marks that show they were hunted by early people called Neanderthals. These bones come from places like Bolomor Cave in Spain and northern Italy, dating back thousands of years.

Some Irish elk bones also show marks from tools, suggesting that early humans used them. For example, a bone from Ofatinţi in Moldova has special cuts on it. Artists from long ago also drew Irish elk, though not as often as other animals like deer. These drawings help us understand how people lived and worked with these giant animals.

Extinction

The Irish elk was a very large deer that lived during a time when the Earth had many glaciers. Scientists think that changes in the climate made it hard for them to find food and space to live. The forests grew thicker, and this may have made it difficult for the deer to move around and find enough to eat.

Humans also hunted these deer, and this may have added pressure on their populations. Over many years, these changes together likely led to the Irish elk disappearing from the world. The last known remains of these deer were found in Russia, dating back about 7,700 years ago.

Modern significance

Many bones of the Irish elk were found in Ireland, which led to a busy trade in the 1800s. People sold these bones to museums and collectors, and they were also used as decorations in fancy homes. Some full skeletons and skulls with big antlers were very valuable back then.

The Irish elk appears on the coat of arms of Northern Ireland, and it was also featured on the cover of a 2022 album by the Irish band Fontaines D.C. called Skinty Fia, which means "The Damnation of the Deer."