Irish elk prehistoric kingdom11/4/2022 In summer, willows on alluvial flats and and shores had sufficient nutrients necessary for antler growth. In winter, the snow-covered ice served as terrain to flee across from predators. Įvidence suggests that Irish elk stags were attracted to lakes, both in the winter and summer. Male deaths were mostly a result of winterkill (read: malnutrition during winter) and mortality was highest amongst juveniles and small adults with small antlers. This segregation implies the presence of seasonal rutting (using the antlers for relatively constrained, predictable combat as mentioned before) and polygynous mating. Image source->įossils from bogs suggest that males and females were segregated from each other during winters. giganteus at the Natural History Museum in London, England. This may either be an adaptation to running (by increasing stride length) or for fat storage. Both sexes also possessed a short, steep hump over the shoulders. This coloration seems to have been an adaptation to minimize solar heat gain. #IRISH ELK PREHISTORIC KINGDOM PATCH#It seems to have been lightly colored, but with a dark dorsal stripe, dark lateral lines running from shoulder to haunch, a light throat patch in between dark stripes, and a dark hump. Upper Paleolithic cave paintings provide insight into the color markings of the Irish elk. It resembled addax, oryx, or saiga antelope, which are short-legged cursors that run on flat, unobstructed ground and run with the head low. giganteus preferred running on hard ground. īody structure is said to resemble that of caribou, except that the small hooves suggest M. Does would probably have been ~80% male size, or 460 kg on average. This is in approximate agreement with Valerius Geist’s estimated range for stags, 450-700 kg, with an average of 575 kg. Total body mass would have been anywhere from ~540-700 kg. giganteus carried the absolutely and relatively largest antlers amongst Old World deer. Large fallow deer bucks and even some exceptional red deer stags match this, while caribou bulls far exceed this. A very big stag weighing 650 kg with antlers weighing 45 kg would only have a relative antler mass of 7.1 g/wtkg. Although the Irish elk possessed immense antlers, relative to body mass they were no larger than those of some extant cervids. giganteus would probably have been more constrained and predictable than in extant deer. This analysis found that, while the Irish elk’s antlers could withstand some fighting loads, they needed to be interlocked proximally, and they were best at withstanding twisting as opposed to pushing loads, like other palmate antlers. giganteus, and compared them with the antlers of three extant deer species: red deer ( Cervus elaphus), fallow deer ( Dama dama), and moose ( Alces alces). A 2019 study performed a finite element analysis on the antlers of M. Andrew Kitchener proposed that the Irish elk could, in fact, use these antlers for agnostic behavior, notwithstanding Stephen Jay Gould's notion that they were poorly adapted for such behavior within males from a morphological standpoint, but perfect for intimidation and sexual display. These antlers could weigh 40 kg and span from 10-12 feet in large stags. The Irish elk is most well known for the massive set of antlers present in males. Its remains are most well known from its fossil occurrences in Irish peat bogs dating to around 11,000 years ago. The Irish elk ( Megaloceros giganteus) is a species of large cervid that lived in Eurasia from the Pleistocene to Holocene epochs ~450,000 (or 400,000-300,000) to ~7,700 years ago. Temporal range: Quaternary ~450,000 -7,700 years ago (Middle Pleistocene to early Holocene Chibanian to Northgrippian) Coloration may not be completely accurate in this illustration (see below).
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