Giant deer , or large-horned deer ( lat. Megaloceros ), is an extinct genus from the family of deer (Cervidae), which lived from the Upper Pliocene to the Early Holocene in Eurasia and northern Africa .
| † Giant Deer |
Species of giant deer (from left to right): M. savini , M. cazioti , M. obscurus , M. pachyosteus , M. giganteus and M. verticornis |
| Scientific classification |
|---|
| No rank : | Bilateral symmetrical |
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| International scientific name |
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Megaloceros ( Blumenbach , 1799 ) |
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Giant Deer Skeleton Found in Ireland
Content
One of the earliest species of giant deer called Megaloceros obscurus existed in the Lower Pleistocene . It was a view from the line leading to the famous big-horned deer ( lat. Megaloceros giganteus ), which appeared about 400 thousand years ago and became extinct about 7600 years ago. His remains are found from North Africa and Western Europe to Siberia and China . Numerous finds have been made in the peat bogs of Ireland and Germany . This probably shows that giant deer were also found in forest areas, and not only in the steppe, as is sometimes assumed. In the coldest periods, giant deer were absent in Europe. They finally disappeared from Europe about 11.5 thousand years ago and met for about three thousand years in Siberia. Gigantic deer never reached North America . There, their biological niche was occupied by the species Cervalces scotti , which was outwardly a mixture of moose and wapiti and became extinct even before the genus of giant deer.
According to the latest genetic analyzes, the closest modern relative of giant deer is the European fallow deer , and not the red deer . Despite the similarity of horns, close kinship does not connect with elk of giant deer.
Moritzburg Castle Horns Collection
The habitat of a giant deer in Siberia is confirmed by an instance of its horns, handed over as a gift from Peter the Great to Saxon King Augustus the Strong. Now these horns are placed in the center of the collection of hunting trophies in one of the halls of the hunting castle Moritzburg near Dresden .
The most famous species of the genus of giant deer is the species Megaloceros giganteus , whose growth at the withers was about two meters and corresponded to the size of modern moose. However, he was, however, lighter and had longer legs. The horns found only in males far exceeded the size of the horns of all living deer. They reached a span of 3.6 m and were one of the largest head growths that ungulates have ever possessed. It is particularly noteworthy that the giant deer dropped these horns every year and in a short period of time restored them again, as do today's deer. And yet, despite its name and unique size of the horns, giant deer were not the largest deer of all time. Even modern moose , especially those found in Alaska , are superior in weight, and some extinct species, such as the 1400 kg wide-elk Cervalces latifrons , were significantly larger.
Skeleton
Megaloceros giganteus Since Megaloceros giganteus is depicted in numerous cave and rock paintings of people of the era of the last ice age , researchers proceed from the fact that he played a large role in the hunting of primitive people. In most of the drawings he is depicted with a dark brown back and light chest, from which we can conclude that this was the real color of his coat. Some images show some triangular hump-like structure in the region of the shoulders. The skeleton of giant deer demonstrates in this place, as in elks , individually varying vertebral extensions, which is more likely to serve as an additional support for muscles carrying heavy horns. Alces latifrons , whose horns were also extremely heavy, also had similar anatomical features.
Not all species of giant deer were large. Dwarf island forms are also known. Megaloceros cazioti , who lived in Corsica and Sardinia and developed from Megaloceros verticornis , reached only one meter at the withers, and its horns were much smaller. The Cretan form of Megaloceros cretensis was even smaller, counting no more than 60 cm at the withers. With its short horns, it was more like muntzhakov .
Unlike elk that feed on leaves , giant deer fed primarily on grasses . It can be assumed that they lived in groups, like most of the large ungulates that now live.
It was previously assumed that the giant deer became extinct due to the expansion of forests at the end of the last ice age . It was believed that in the forest area large horns were an obstacle, especially when rescued by flight from enemies. Over time, however, such assumptions began to be considered naive. Giant deer have been highly successful animals for hundreds of thousands of years. Their extinction has become part of the general process of extinction of large animals, which many other species have undergone.
- PS Martin: Quaternary Extinctions . The University of Arizona Press, 1984. ISBN 0-8165-1100-4
- W. v. Koenigswald: Lebendige Eiszeit . Theiss-Verlag, 2002. ISBN 3-8062-1734-3
