Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The Irish Giant Deer or "Irish Elk"

1995; Volume: 6; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.55468/gc506

0144-5294

Nigel T. Monaghan,

Indigenous Studies and Ecology

The antlers of the late Pleistocene giant deer Megaloceros giganteus (Blumenbach 1799) adorn the walls of many a stately home throughout Ireland and Britain. They are also widespread in museum collections, having attracted attention for centuries as the largest antlers of any animal, living or extinct. One example is documented back to about 1588 when Adam Loftus of Rathfamham Castle in south County Dublin made a drawing (now preserved in the National Museum of Ireland NMING : GLM26) of a specimen sent by him to Sir Henry Cecil, Chancellor to Queen Elizabeth 1. The antlers have survived and are on exhibition in the Provincial Museum of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (P. Doughty pers. comm. 1990).