Megaloceros giganteus

The Irish elk, 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. Its range extended across northern Eurasia during the Pleistocene, from Ireland to Lake Baikal in Siberia. The most recent remains of the species have been radiocarbon dated to about 7,700 years ago in western Russia. Its antlers, which can span over 4.2 metres (13.8 ft) across, are the largest known of any deer. It is not closely related to either living species called the elk, with it being widely agreed that its closest living relatives are fallow deer (Dama).

Megaloceros giganteus

Franco Atirador · CC BY-SA 2.5 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
MegalocerosPBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB, for Cervidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Cervidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 645 thousand years on record.

The record covers at least 774 ka to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 7.246 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 0 of 15 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 15 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 14 of 15 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 15 occurrences7.5–7.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.2–7.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.7–6.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.5–6.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.2–5.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.9–5.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.7–5.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.4–5.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.2–4.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.9–4.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.6–4.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.4–4.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.9–3.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.4–3.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.1–2.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.1–1.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.8–1.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.5–1.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.3–1.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.0–775 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences775 ka–516 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences516 ka–258 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences258 ka–0 Mya — about 9 occurrences774 ka – 129 ka7.7 Mya0 Mya

15 occurrences of Megaloceros giganteus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

15 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Megaloceros giganteus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Megaloceros giganteus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

158 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 15 sites for Megaloceros giganteus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

10 references

Each of the 15 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Megaloceros giganteus

Credit
Franco Atirador
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Megaloceros giganteus · NHMUK:PAL:PV M 120595

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMegaloceros through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Blumenbach 1799)