The Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus), 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 (where it is known from abundant remains found in bogs) 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 3.5 metres (11.5 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).
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Irish elk in the context of Extant taxon
Neontology is a part of biology that, in contrast to paleontology, studies and deals with living (or, more generally, recent) organisms. It is the study of extant taxa (singular: extant taxon): taxa (such as species, genera and families) with members still alive, as opposed to (all) being extinct. For example:
- The Indian elephant (Elephas maximus) is an extant species, and the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) is an extinct species.
- The moose (Alces alces) is an extant species, and the Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus) is an extinct species.
- In the group of molluscs known as the cephalopods, as of 1987 there were approximately 600 extant species and 7,500 extinct species.
A taxon can be classified as extinct if it is broadly agreed or certified that no members of the group are still alive. Conversely, an extinct taxon can be reclassified as extant if there are new discoveries of living species ("Lazarus species"), or if previously known extant species are reclassified as members of the taxon.
View the full Wikipedia page for Extant taxonIrish elk in the context of Megaloceros
Megaloceros (from Greek: μεγαλος megalos + κερας keras, literally "Great Horn"; see also Lister (1987)) is an extinct genus of deer whose members lived throughout Eurasia from the Pleistocene to the early Holocene. The type and only undisputed member of the genus, Megaloceros giganteus, vernacularly known as the "Irish elk" or "giant deer", is also the best known. Fallow deer are thought to be their closest living relatives. Megaloceros has been suggested to be closely related to other genera of "giant deer", like the East Asian genus Sinomegaceros (whose species are sometimes included in Megaloceros), and the European Praemegaceros.
View the full Wikipedia page for Megaloceros