The deer whose antlers spanned three-and-a-half metres

THE huge antlers and other bones pictured here belong to an extinct Irish elk that once roamed across ice age Europe and parts of Asia and Africa.

It owes its common name to the peat bogs of Ireland, where many well-preserved specimens of its skeleton have been discovered.

Megaloceros giganteus was a Pleistocene era species whose distinctive antlers – which could span more than 3.5 metres – have inspired artists for thousands of years, from the creators of the Lascaux cave paintings to the photographers of today.

Modern studies show that the last members of the species died out about 7700 years ago in Siberia. But when Thomas Molyneux first described it in 1697, the idea that the creature was already extinct fuelled much scientific debate. Some scientists, including Molyneux, thought that living examples of animals known only through their fossilised remains were simply yet to be discovered in uncharted corners of the world. But Charles Darwin and others favoured the extinction explanation, arguing that the Irish elk, which could grow to more than 2 metres tall, would be difficult to miss.

The picture appears among a collection of 200 images by photographer Robert Clark in the book Evolution: A visual record, published next week by Phaidon.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Giant from the bog”