![]() This caused severe food shortage and the animals could not repair, grow back or reproduce healthy antlers or offspring. However with time the vegetation rich in these compounds began to dwindle drastically. They would receive this nourishment from vegetation. It is believed that these animals needed high amounts of calcium and phosphate compounds in order to have healthy antlers. The Second TheoryĪnother justification for the Irish elk’s extinction has been associated with low nourishment and lack of food sources. Which made it harder for the animal to carry its own weight and eventually led to its extinction. The end result being that the antlers began to grow disproportionately larger than the size of the head and neck. However, further evolution and selective mating led to an increase in the size and spread of the antlers with every successive generation. It has been suggested that the animal had genetically evolved so as to grow large antlers. Irish Elk – Theories of Extinction The First Theoryīased on the animal’s extinction, it directs the cause to the gigantic size and weight of the elk’s antlers. ![]() It also helped increase the stature of the male deer in front of females, thereby making the mating process more favorable for the males with the bigger antlers. These antlers served as weapons for fighting against other competing males and predators.The antlers itself weighed about 40 kg when deduced on a generalized scale by paleontologists.The animal’s antlers extended to about 12 feet in length from one tip to the other.The Irish elk was about 6 feet 11 inches tall and had very widespread antlers.antecedens which were similar in their taxonomy. The Irish elk is believed to have evolved from the earlier M.The skeletal remain or fossil of this animal was first extracted from deep bogs or swamps, which had helped preserve them under its floor sediments. Let us find out more about this humongous and gentle giant. One of the most fascinating Irish elk facts is that the deer like animal was gigantic and approximately twice the size of an average 5 feet 6 inches tall human being. Contrary to its name the Irish elk is not related to the presently existing European or North American elks. Lake Baikal also happens to be the oldest lake on earth as well as the deepest. It was found predominantly in the Eurasian subcontinent, which extends from Ireland to the Russian lake Baikal. The Irish Elk Megaloceros giganteus (also called Giant Deer) is an extinct deer species which once walked the earth about 7,700 years ago.
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