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The Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus)
The Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus)
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The Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus)
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  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Giant deer or Irish giant 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 Eurasia during the Pleistocene, from Ireland to Siberia to China. A related form is recorded in China during the Late Pleistocene.The most recent remains of the species have been carbon dated to about 7,700 years ago in Siberia. Although most skeletons have been found in bogs in Ireland, the animal was not exclusive to Ireland. The Irish giant deer 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)). In body size, the Irish Elk tied in size with the extant moose subspecies of Alaska (Alces alces gigas). The Irish elk is estimated to have attained a total mass of 540–600 kg (1,190–1,323 lb), with large specimens having weighed 700 kg (1,543 lb) or more, roughly similar to the Alaskan Moose. Credits American Museum of natural History. 
@epaiva :
A Z. Burian's illustration of this prodigious animal:  *This image is copyright of its original author Translation: "Like a lot of groups of the Pleistocene animals, the deers manifested a tendancy to generate some gigantics species. The giant deer, Megaloceros antiqueus (we see here) appeared in the ancient world. It was an huge beast and the wingspan of its antiers could exceed 4 meters. As the webbed form of its antiers looked like to the the extant elks and fallow deer ones, they were considered a certain time, wrongfully, as a giant form of one of these species. They grazed the grass and the bushes of the open plains and, probably, avoided the forests where their antiers would have them considerably bothered".
Credit to @dean_r_lomax
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
" The Irish Elk ?
The Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus) also called the giant deer or Irish giant deer, is a species of deer in the genus Megaloceros and is one of the largest deer that ever lived. Its range extended across Eurasia during the Pleistocene, from Ireland to Siberia to China. A related form is recorded in China during the Late Pleistocene. The most recent remains of the species have been carbon dated to about 7,700 years ago in Siberia. Although most skeletons have been found in bogs in Ireland, the animal was not exclusive to Ireland and was not closely related to either of the living species currently called elk - Alces alces (the European elk, known in North America as the moose) or Cervus canadensis (the North American elk or wapiti). For this reason, the name "Giant deer" is used in some publications, instead of "Irish elk". A study has suggested that the Irish elk was closely related to the Red deer (Cervus elaphus). However, other phylogenetic analyses support a sister-group relationship with fallow deer (Dama dama). " |
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