The moose or elk is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus Alces. It is also the tallest, and the second-largest, land animal in North America, falling short only of the American bison in body mass. Most adult male moose have broad, palmate antlers; other members of the deer family have pointed antlers with a dendritic ("twig-like") configuration. Moose inhabit the circumpolar boreal forests or temperate broadleaf and mixed forests of the Northern Hemisphere, thriving in cooler, temperate areas as well as subarctic climates.
Ungulates are members of the diverse clade Euungulata, which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. Once part of the clade "Ungulata" along with the clade Paenungulata, "Ungulata" has since been determined to be a polyphyletic and thereby invalid clade based on molecular data. As a result, true ungulates had since been reclassified to the newer clade Euungulata in 2001 within the clade Laurasiatheria while Paenungulata has been reclassified to a distant clade Afrotheria. Living ungulates are divided into two orders: Perissodactyla including equines, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and Artiodactyla including cattle, antelope, pigs, giraffes, camels, sheep, deer, and hippopotamuses, among others. Cetaceans such as whales, dolphins, and porpoises are also classified as artiodactyls, although they do not have hooves. Most terrestrial ungulates use the hoofed tips of their toes to support their body weight while standing or moving. Two other orders of ungulates, Notoungulata and Litopterna, both native to South America, became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, around 12,000 years ago.
A deer or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae. Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae and Capreolinae. Male deer of almost all species, as well as female reindeer, grow and shed new antlers each year. These antlers are bony extensions of the skull and are often used for combat between males.
Rails are a large, cosmopolitan family of small- to medium-sized terrestrial and/or semi-amphibious birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity in its forms, and includes such ubiquitous species as the crakes, coots, and gallinule; other rail species are extremely rare or endangered. Many are associated with wetland habitats, some being semi-aquatic like waterfowl, but many more are wading birds or shorebirds. The ideal rail habitats are marsh areas, including rice paddies, and flooded fields or open forest. They are especially fond of dense vegetation for nesting. The rail family is found in every terrestrial habitat with the exception of dry desert, polar or freezing regions, and alpine areas. Members of Rallidae occur on every continent except Antarctica. Numerous unique island species are known.
The Père David's deer, also known as the milu or elaphure, is a species of deer native to the subtropical river valleys of China. It grazes mainly on grass and aquatic plants. It is the only extant member of the genus Elaphurus. Some experts suggest demoting Elaphurus to a subgenus of Cervus. Based on genetic comparisons, Père David's deer is closely related to Eld's deer.
The Irish elk, also called the giant deer or Irish deer, is an extinct species of deer in the genus Megaloceros and is one of the largest deer that ever lived. Its range extended across Eurasia during the Pleistocene, from Ireland to Lake Baikal in Siberia. The most recent remains of the species have been radiocarbon dated to about 7,700 years ago in western Russia. Its antlers, which can span 3.5 metres (11 ft) across are the largest known of any deer. It is not closely related to either living species called the elk, with it being widely agreed that its closest living relatives are fallow deer (Dama).
Megaloceros is an extinct genus of deer whose members lived throughout Eurasia from the Pleistocene to the early Holocene. The type and only undisputed member of the genus, Megaloceros giganteus, vernacularly known as the "Irish elk" or "giant deer", is also the best known. Fallow deer are thought to be their closest living relatives. Megaloceros has been suggested to be closely related to other genera of "giant deer", like the East Asian genus Sinomegaceros, and the European Praemegaceros.
Eucladoceros is an extinct genus of large deer whose fossils have been discovered across Eurasia, from Europe to China, spanning from the Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene. It is noted for its unusual comb-like or branching antlers.
Libralces was a genus of Eurasian deer that lived during the Pliocene epoch. It is notable for its 2+ meter wide antlers, comparable in size to those of Megaloceros.
Cervalces scotti, also known as stag-moose, is an extinct species of large deer that lived in North America during the Late Pleistocene epoch. It is the only known North American member of the genus Cervalces. Its closest living relative is the modern moose.
The Capreolinae, Odocoileinae, or the New World deer are a subfamily of deer. Alternatively, they are known as the telemetacarpal deer, due to their bone structure being different from the plesiometacarpal deer subfamily Cervinae. The telemetacarpal deer maintain their distal lateral metacarpals, while the plesiometacarpal deer maintain only their proximal lateral metacarpals. The Capreolinae are believed to have originated in the Middle Miocene, between 7.7 and 11.5 million years ago, in Central Asia.
Alces is a genus of artiodactyl mammals, that includes the largest species of the deer family. There are two species in genus: the moose and the fossil Alces gallicus, that existed in the Pleistocene about 2 million years ago. Sometimes only one species is included in the genus, the modern moose, and the extinct Gallic moose is more often referred to the genus Cervalces, since the structure of their antlers looks similar.
Rucervus is a genus of deer from India, Nepal, Indochina, and the Chinese island of Hainan. The only extant representatives, the barasingha or swamp deer and Eld's deer, are threatened by habitat loss and hunting; another species, Schomburgk’s deer, went extinct in 1938. Deer species found within the genus Rucervus are characterized by a specific antler structure, where the basal ramification is often supplemented with an additional small prong, and the middle tine is never present. The crown tines are inserted on the posterior side of the beam and may be bifurcated or fused into a small palmation.
Carbonemys cofrinii is an extinct giant podocnemidid turtle known from the Middle Paleocene Cerrejón Formation of the Cesar-Ranchería Basin in northeastern Colombia. The formation is dated at around 60 to 57 million years ago, starting at about five million years after the KT extinction event.
Cervalces latifrons, the broad-fronted moose, or the giant moose was a giant species of deer that inhabited Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene epoch. It is thought to be the ancestor of the modern moose, as well as the extinct North American Cervalces scotti. It was considerably larger than living moose, placing it as one of the largest deer to have ever lived.
This list, 2015 in molluscan paleontology, is a list of new taxa of ammonites and other fossil cephalopods, as well as fossil gastropods, bivalves and other molluscs that have been described during the year 2015.
Cervavitus is a genus of prehistoric deer that lived from the late Miocene to the Early Pleistocene in parts of Western and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and China.
Praemegaceros is an extinct genus of deer, known from the Pleistocene and Holocene of Western Eurasia. Praemegaceros is considered to be a genus of "giant deer", with many species having an estimated body mass of around 400 kilograms (880 lb), considerably larger than most living deer.
Danuvius guggenmosi is an extinct species of great ape that lived 11.6 million years ago during the Middle–Late Miocene in southern Germany. It is the sole member of the genus Danuvius. The area at this time was probably a woodland with a seasonal climate. A male specimen was estimated to have weighed about 31 kg (68 lb), and two females 17 and 19 kg. Both genus and species were described in November 2019.
Katifelis is an extinct genus of felids that lived in what is now Kenya during the Early Miocene and is notable for its dental features, which are intermediate between basal and modern cats. It contains a single species, Katifelis nightingalei.
