Bonhams 1793 : An impressive and large pair of Irish Elk horns (Megaloceros giganteus))

The Irish Elk (Megaloceros giganteus) or Giant Deer was a species of Megaloceros and one of the largest deer that ever lived. The Irish Elk stood about 2.1 metres (6.9 ft) tall at the shoulders, and it had the largest antlers of any known cervid (a maximum of 3.65 m (12.0 ft) from tip to tip and weighing up to 40 kg (88 lb).Its range extended across Eurasia, from Ireland to east of Lake Baikal, during the Late Pleistocene. The latest known remains of the species have been carbon dated to about 7,700 years ago. Although most skeletons have been found in Irish bogs, the animal was not exclusively Irish and was not closely related to either of the living species currently called elk - Alces alces (the European elk, known in North America as the moose) or Cervus canadensis (the North American elk or wapiti); for this reason, the name "Giant Deer" is sometimes used.

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