The Irish Elk was the largest deer that ever lived.
Its home was Eurasia, from Ireland into the lakes at Baikal, and it lived during the Pleistocen area.
The last of the giant deer died out about 7 thousand years ago.
Irish Elk
The Irish Elk was not strictly Irish in nature, and lived in many other places too. It also was not related to the modern day Elk which it is named after.
It was however extremely large, and had formidable antlers. The Elk was about 7 feet tall at the shoulder.
Its antlers could measure as much as twelve feet from tip to tip, which is unprecedented in the deer family.
The Giant Elk probably evolved around the Eemaina interglacial time from other, smaller deer.
Not a great deal is known of its habits or the entire area in which it was available however the antlers and skeletal remains show it was enormous.
More than enough for a cave lion’s meal, I would think.
The Natural History Museum in Dublin Ireland has a huge collection of skeletal remains of the Giant Elk on view to the public.
Links to Outside Sites with information on the Giant Elk.
Irish Elk
CGI picture from “Walking with Beasts”. Discovery Channel.
Megaloceros, Irish elk, Giant deer. BBC.
The Case of the Irish Elk. University of California at Berkeley.
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Hi i’m learning about the irish elk well studying it and i need some advice like what is there conseervations measure please e mail me back at lampgirl
_123@hotmail.com!!!!! Thanks
Hey i am also researching the giant irish deer and would like anythin information you could give me. Thank you.
i my name is alicia doglas i am 11 years old and i want to learn about the irish deer.
how did it be come that big and how tall can the irish deer get.
why is it antles so big.
can you get me some photos.
can you get me some info.
when did they all die.
what do they eat.
why do they call them irish deer or elk.
please e mail me.
Hi.I am also doing a project in school on endangered animals and i decided to do this one. I am in &th grade and i live in Billings,MT. I was wondering if you had any other pictures of Irish elk? Were they easy for preditors to catch them and what did they eat? I think they are the coolist extinct animals in the world! I never knew they were so big. I first saw a picture of them in 4th grade and thought they weren’t real. Well thanks for listening to me talk about nothing. E-mail me back.
hahahaha this is pretty cool man!! (: i love it
this is cool.. by the way im erin shields and shayne bailey and felicia davenport (:
it is very interesting to look back and see what strange and wackey animals did live on this earth :p
good job!
That the elk was a very very importnamt animal Ahahahah……But i think it would need more information about!
Like:
-The extinction
-The habbitat
-Where it eats/ what it eats.
So if you want to write about the elk do it better!
i am trying to learn to i its very cool
this animal is very very cool@
lol great website man lovin it this was just wat i needed
ive been studying the irish elk but i have some un-answered questions.
Why was it called an elk when its a deer?
been looking and can’t seem to find it
please get back to me,
thanks
The term Irish Elk is a misnomer that some people still use. Its proper name is Megaloceros giganteus, or the Giant Irish Deer, so called because of the numerous excellent remains found in Irish bogs. The evidence shows the deer died out from a climatic shift resulting in an increase in wooded habitat, this would not be ideal as the large antlers would have difficulty traveling through. Although to say that was the only reason would be ignorant, there were others but climatic shift after the Last Glacial Maximum in Ireland ended them. Evidence does show the existed until much later around the Ural mountains and Siberia, but so did Woolly Mammoths.
I am researching this extinct animal for an upper level Evolution course. I am interested in the genetic background about this animal and I am coming short searching all the databases that our school pervides as well as those the (amazing) internet is providing. I am trying to find a sure solution to this animals reason for extinction. Because I do not beleive that the runaway selction theory stating that the antlers were to vast for the elk to carry. Also, what ancestor this animal may of had, and if that species still is surviving today. Thank you for your time.
hi people, So, a am at my school in grade 5 right now and im on the school’s lap tops. So i might get busted any secound.
Anyway, im researching this animal, and if anyone can post a note about what the irish elk’s habits are, that’de be fricken great !:)
hy people I have seen this animal first time because want to know about extint animals