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Survival of the Irish elk into the Holocene

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Giant deer on the Isle of Man around 9,000 years ago may have been the last of the line.

Abstract

The giant deer Megaloceros giganteus was a celebrated victim of the Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinction, the timing and causes of which are hotly debated1. Until now, it was believed that the giant deer's demise occurred during the Late Glacial (about 10,600 years ago), before the Pleistocene–Holocene boundary. Here we report new radiocarbon dates from two specimens in stratified contexts, which indicate that a giant deer population still existed around the northern Irish Sea Basin in the early Holocene — 1,400 years after their supposed extinction.

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Figure 1: Localities and size comparison of Megaloceros giganteus specimens.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological and Earth Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, UK

    Silvia Gonzalez

  2. Department of Geology and Zoology National Museums of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF, UK

    Andrew C. Kitchener

  3. Department of Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Adrian M. Lister

Authors
  1. Silvia Gonzalez
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  2. Andrew C. Kitchener
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  3. Adrian M. Lister
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Correspondence to Adrian M. Lister.

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Gonzalez, S., Kitchener, A. & Lister, A. Survival of the Irish elk into the Holocene. Nature 405, 753–754 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35015668

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