Megaloceros


Megaloceros is an extinct genus of deer whose members lived throughout Eurasia from the early Pleistocene to the beginning of the Holocene and were important herbivores during the Ice Ages. The largest species, Megaloceros giganteus, vernacularly known as the "Irish elk" or "Giant elk", is also the best known. Fallow deer are thought to be their closest living relatives.

Biology

Most members of the genus were extremely large animals that favoured meadows or open woodlands. They are the most cursorial deer known, with most species averaging slightly below at the withers. The various species of the Cretan genus Candiacervus – the smallest of which, C. rhopalophorus was just high at the shoulder – are sometimes included in Megaloceros as a subgenus.
of Megaloceros giganteus
Despite its name, the Irish elk was neither restricted to Ireland nor closely related to either species commonly referred to as elk but instead is closely related to the fallow deer genus Dama. The genus was part of a Late Neogene Eurasian radiation of fallow deer relatives of which today only 2 taxa remain..
Although sometimes synonymized with Megaloceros, Praemegaceros, Sinomegaceros and Megaceroides are apparently generically distinct. M. savini and related taxa are split into the separate genus Praedama'' by some scholars.

Species

Ordered from oldest to youngest
;M. stavropolensis
;M. luochuanensis
;M. antecedens
;M. savini
;M. matritensis
;M. giganteus