Irish Elk

The majestic Irish elk, also known as the giant deer, lived about 400,000 years ago in Europe. It stood at an astonishing 7ft, with the male antlers growing up to 12ft. Despite the name, this giant deer lived all over Europe.

Yet, experts discovered most of their fossils and bones in Ireland, hence the name. It’s believed that the males would grow their antlers as tall as possible to impress female elks. So, they’d shed their antlers in the springtime and spend all summer growing out new ones for the mating season in autumn.

These giant deer became endangered roughly 12,000 years ago, likely due to climate change. It’s also entirely possible that humans hunting the deer made it an endangered species. According to archives, the last Irish elk was seen in Russia and died about 8,000 years ago.