Ireland may not be home to any snakes, but the island’s actual natural past and present is still bustling with other wildlife. It’s currently home to 40 species of land and marine mammals, 12,000 species of insects, and more than 400 bird species. Fearsome wolves used to roam the forests of Ireland, before being hunted into extinction by 1786 These wolves were likely a primary predator of one of the larger players of Irish natural history–the extinct giant deer (Megaloceros giganteus), more commonly known as the Irish elk.
Clocking in at about 6.5 feet tall and weighing upwards of 1,500 pounds, the males boasted antlers over 12 feet wide. By comparison, modern elk have antlers that are about four feet across. These enormous Ice Age mammals were the largest deer in Europe.
While they are primarily associated with Ireland, they have been found from the current western edge of the continent east towards Russia’s Lake Baikal. A 17,000 year-old cave painting in southern France depicts a deer with enormous antlers that archaeologists believed could be Megaloceros. Additional specimens have also been uncovered in Asia and Northern Africa. Megaloceros was first uncovered in a bog in Ireland and scientifically described in the 1690s, but its fossils continue to be uncovered all over the island.
[Related: Why doesn’t Ireland have snakes?]
“Despite Ireland being a tiny place, we have a lot of modern deer and a lot of giant deer deposits,” Paolo Viscardi, Keeper of Natural History at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin tells PopSci. “The depositional environment is just perfect and the preservation of these animals is incredible. There’s just this massive constant stream of giant deer turning up here.”
Heavy heads
Despite most museums listing the animal as an elk, Megaloceros was a deer. Their antlers were made of strong bone. This sturdy bone is one reason why they are more well-preserved than animal horns that are…
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