Megaloceros

Meaning of name: Great antler

Named by: Joshua Brookes, 1828

Time period: Early Pleistocene-middle Holocene

Size: 2m tall at the shoulders

Diet: Herbivore

Origin: Eurasia

Fossils seen at: Dublin (both the Natural History Museum and Trinity College), Belfast, London, Edinburgh, Paris

Interesting fact: Cave paintings from the Upper Palaeolithic suggest that Megaloceros (often incorrectly called the ‘Irish elk’) was light-coloured overall, with dark coloration from shoulder to haunch, on the neck, chin, back and a hump on the withers. This information is incorporated into the cartoon shown here.