The Irish elk ( megaloceros giganteus ) has been nonextant in Ireland for about 10,500 year . So you could imagine how surprised two fishermen were when they draw up their net and discovered a prehistorical elk skull — with antlers attached — as their taking into custody of the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. .
AsSmithsonianreports , Raymond McElroy and Charlie Coyle were fishing in Ireland ’s Lough Neagh , a lake near the town of Ardboe , when they thought their net had snagged on a art object of driftwood . However , when they finally managed to hoist it out of the urine , they discovered the skull with antlers evaluate over six foot across .
" I think it was the demon himself , " Coyle toldThe Irish Times . " I was travel to throw it back in . I did n’t sleep together what to do with it . "
McElroy , however , recalled that a mandibular bone of an ancient Irish Cervus elaphus canadensis ( possibly from the same creature disclose by the fishermen ) was get in the same region in 2014 . For the time being , he ’s keeping the skull in his garage .
This particular elk credibly stood about 6.5 feet magniloquent . It ’s worth note , though , that the name " Irish red deer " is a piece of a misnomer . The fauna is actually classified as a character of deer — in fact , the largest deer to ever have be .
The " Irish " part of the name stems from the fact that fossils of the animal are often get word in Ireland ’s lake and bogs , which assist preserve the castanets . However , the beast once ramble throughout Europe , North Africa , and parts of Asia . It was roughly the same sizing as amodern - day moose , weighed about 1300 pounds , and some animals needed a headroom of 13 feet just to mash their antlers between the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree .
" gargantuan antler are n’t gravid in the forest , " Mike Simms at the Ulster Museum tellsBelfast Live . " Environmental change is what caused their extinction . "
And thus , the Irish elk joinedgiant slothfulness , giant dress hat , sabre - toothed tiger , mastodons , and mammoth in theenormous out animalsclub , never to be seen again ( or at least until the next fishing junket ) .
[ h / tSmithsonian ]
