It was a typical autumn day in 2018, when
two fishermen set off into the waters of Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland. As they pulled up their net, they noticed
something different among all the freshly caught fish: something very large and very
strange. It was a catch of epic and ancient proportions,
one that had not been seen by human eyes for thousands of years. They had dragged up a beautifully preserved
skull and antlers of Megaloceros giganteus, an extinct beast more commonly known as the
Irish Elk. Now those two fishermen certainly weren’t the
first people to encounter Megaloceros. The fact is, the archaeological record is
full of evidence that our ancestors lived alongside and interacted with these giant
mammals for millennia. But what happened when they did interact,
when humans met this megafauna? Did we, perhaps, love them to death? Or is it possible that the Megaloceros simply
lived … too large? Megaloceros was one of the largest members
of the deer family ever to walk the Earth. Despite being called the Irish Elk, it’s
actually not very closely related to either of the two species known as elk today. Instead, its closest living relatives seem
to either the red deer or the fallow deer. But we actually know a great deal about what
Megaloceros probably looked like in life, because it inspired our human ancestors to
immortalize it in art. It often appears in cave paintings dating
to the Late Pleistocene Epoch, most famously in Lascaux and Cougnac Caves of France. And we know these figures represent Megaloceros,
because of the one detail that the Ice Age artists took pains to capture: the animal’s
enormous antlers! Thanks to these depictions, we know a lot
of other details about Megaloceros that we’d never have known otherwise -- like that it
had dark stripes that contrasted with its pale head and neck. And attached to its shoulders was a distinctive
hump, probably made of fat, because it's not on its skeleton. And of course, there were the antlers! At their largest, the antlers of Megaloceros
giganteus could reach 3.7 meters wide and weigh up to 45 kilograms! Even today, it holds the record for having
the largest antlers of any deer species. Most experts believe that those giant features
were used as a signifier during mating season, resulting in natural selection pressures for
larger antlers. But the antlers weren’t just prized by females;
they may also have been important for humans in many parts of the world. Because, these giant deer weren’t only found
in Ireland. Megaloceros actually lived throughout Europe,
northern Asia, and northern Africa, and was used by different people in different ways. Many archaeological sites have been found
with fragments of antlers that were modified by humans for their use. Take, for example, the site known as Wulanmulun
in Nei Mongol, China. The site dates back somewhere between 30,000
and 70,000 years ago. And there, tools have been found that were
made from the antlers of Megaloceros - including a hammer Meanwhile, at sites in Spain and France from
just over 30,000 years ago, we’ve found more antler fragments that were modified by
humans. And interestingly enough, these fragments
appear to have been made from antlers that had been shed, having fallen off before regrowing
again the next summer. This implies that humans may have scavenged
and collected the antlers, rather than just hunting the deer for them. And one of the most unique -- and frankly
coolest -- artifacts made from Megaloceros material is an intricately carved dagger from
around 7,000 years ago, recovered from a peat bog in Russia. But along with providing material for tools,
Megaloceros may also have held a special, less tangible significance for humans. Some experts think the frequent appearance
of Megaloceros in cave art and in unusual archaeological contexts, like deep within
caves, suggest that its antlers and bones could have been used in shamanistic religious rituals. So, if these animals were so valuable to our
species, then what happened to them? What went so wrong for Megaloceros? Well, as is the case with many extinctions,
the precise cause, or causes, are still up for debate. The most popular hypothesis is known as the
Antler Theory, and it places the blame on the very thing that made Megaloceros so fascinating
and memorable. This idea was first suggested in 1830 by an
Irish physician named John Hart, who thought that the massive size of the antlers must
have required an equally massive amount of blood to grow and maintain. Once the antlers were shed, he thought, there
would have been such a rush of blood back into the brain that males may have suffered
seizures or strokes. Another idea from the same period was that
the antlers were so big that Megaloceros would’ve constantly gotten tangled up in trees or bodies
of water, causing them to either starve or drown. But most of these theories predate the publication
of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in 1859, so they don’t take into account the
concepts of natural selection and adaptation. So by the 1930’s, most of these early hypotheses
were challenged using allometry, the study of the relationship between body size, shape,
and growth rate. And these studies found that the antlers of
Megaloceros grew in proportion with the rest of their bodies, so it’s not like the headgear
could’ve grown too big for them to handle. But that doesn’t mean that those huge features
still weren’t a big problem. In the 1990’s, a new version of the Antler
Theory emerged that many scientists actually agreed with. This model suggested that Megaloceros required
a lot more nutrients than other megafauna, and that might have contributed to their downfall. Because of their antlers, Megaloceros would
need a consistent supply of both calcium and phosphorus in order to restore the nutrients
that they lost during growth and shedding. So any slight decline in their food supply
would have had an enormous impact on their ability to survive. In addition, the amazing size of the antlers
may have made sexual selection very exclusive: If only the males with the very largest antlers
were being selected, then the species as a whole might have suffered a fatal drop in
genetic diversity. But if Megaloceros had been so successful
for thousands of years, why would its antlers suddenly have become such a drag? As with so many things, the demise of the
Megaloceros seems to be, ultimately, about timing. During their heyday in the Pleistocene Epoch,
they thrived in extremely cold environments, often living through periods of glaciation
followed by slight warming. But in the Late Pleistocene, as the climate
started to change, Megaloceros populations became increasingly restricted to modern day Russia. This is likely because the open grazing lands
that had once sustained them were now turning into dense forests that the species struggled
to survive in. And that brings the Antler Theory back into
play. As the Pleistocene faded, Megaloceros - which
was mainly a grazing species - lost its ideal environment for feeding. Populations began to dwindle, especially given
that males needed a lot of nutrients to support their oversized headgear. And to make matters worse, the newly forested
environment may have made it difficult for the Deer with larger antlers to get around,
which may have also displaced some of the population. So perhaps, because of the combination of
high sexual selection and the dwindling population of large-antlered males, birth rates began
to drop. But the death blow might’ve been the hunting
habits of our own human ancestors, who likely had a taste for Megaloceros. For example, remains of Megaloceros from the
Early Holocene site of Sosnovy Tushamsky in Russia show clear evidence of having been
butchered. According to recent radiocarbon data from
other remains found in Russia, Megaloceros had completely disappeared about 7,600 years
ago. But since then, specimens have kept being
discovered -- including many that were fished out of Irish peat bogs, where the oxygen-poor
environment kept the bones well preserved. And, it’s not just the remains that have
been preserved for all of these years. Depictions of Megaloceros in art and folklore
throughout history have kept their memory alive as well. For example, Irish poet Seamus Heaney used
the imagery of a Megaloceros skeleton being recovered from a bog, as part of his series
of poems about the famous “bog bodies” of Ireland. And Megaloceros also graces the Northern Irish
coat of arms to this day, representing the natural environment of the country. Whether in body or spirit, the so-called Irish
Elk continues to capture our imaginations. And like our ancestors thousands of years
ago, we continue to keep them alive through stories and art - reminders of the time when
we met this majestic megafauna. Thanks to this month’s Eontologists: Patrick
Seifert, Jake Hart, Jon Davison Ng, and Steve. If you’d like to join them and our other
patrons in supporting what we do here, then by all means go to patreon.com/eons and make your pledge! Thank you! Thank you for joining me in the Konstantin
Haase Studio! If megafauna are your thing, then check out
our episode “Life, Sex & Death Among the Dire Wolves”.
Is this rhetorical or are you looking for recipes?
There’s ancient castles in Ireland that have megaloceros antlers displayed on walls. So megaloceros were around when the Irish were able to build massive forms of architecture.
they hunted dem to extinction. The only continent where this didnt happen was Africa,... because the megafauna had time to adapt to those pesky hominids and their weapons