Cervalces scotti Temporal range: | |
---|---|
Replica skeleton at MUSE | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | Cervidae |
Subfamily: | Capreolinae |
Genus: | † Cervalces |
Species: | †C. scotti |
Binomial name | |
†Cervalces scotti Lydekker, 1898 | |
Cervalces scotti, also known as stag-moose, is an extinct species of large deer that lived in North America during the Late Pleistocene epoch. [1] It is the only known North American member of the genus Cervalces . Its closest living relative is the modern moose (Alces alces).
It had palmate antlers that were more complex than those of a moose and a muzzle more closely resembling that of a typical deer. [2]
It was as large as the modern moose, with an elk-like head, long legs, and palmate antlers that were more complex and heavily branching than the moose. [3] Cervalces scotti reached 2.5 m (8.2 ft) in length and a weight of 708.5 kg (1,562 lb). [4] [5] The stag-moose resided in North America during an era with other megafauna such as the woolly mammoth, ground sloth, long horn bison, and saber toothed cat. [6] The species became extinct approximately 11,500 years ago, toward the end of the most recent ice age, as part of a mass extinction of large North American mammals. [7] [8]
The first evidence of Cervalces scotti found in modern times was discovered at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky by William Clark, circa 1805. A more complete skeleton was found in 1885 by William Barryman Scott in New Jersey. [1] Mummified remains have also been found. [9] One of the most complete Cervalces skulls ever discovered was dredged from a pond in Kendallville, Indiana and dated to 13,500 BP. [10]
Cervalces scotti, like several other members of its genus, probably lived in marshes, swamps and bogs, as well as spruce-taiga floral communities. There were also surroundings ranging from tundra–mixed coniferous forests to deciduous woodlands. These sedges and willows may not have been suitable food products, but they provide an imagery of the ecology of the stag-moose. The change in flora and fauna due to complete deglaciation probably also affected the living conditions of the stag-moose in states like Iowa and Wisconsin, where the stag-moose was found at more than 20 sites. [11] The stag-moose reproduced more often than megaherbivores, and so the hypothesis is that the stag-moose's disappearance is linked to the emergence of the "true moose" instead. [12] [13] [14] Another reason for extinction could be the competition of several herbivorous artiodactyls, like the modern American bison (Bison bison), in the new grassland ecosystem which replaced the spruce forest environment. [15]
Cervalces scotti is thought to have evolved from a population of Cervalces latifrons that migrated into North America probably sometime during the Middle Pleistocene. [16] It shared the spruce parkland ecosystem with other herbivorous megafauna, such as the caribou (Rangifer tarandus), the woodland musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus), and the giant beaver (Castoroides sp.), [17] [11] in a range from what is now southern Canada to Arkansas and from Iowa to New Jersey. As the glaciers retreated, moose (which had crossed the Bering land bridge from Asia) [18] may have populated the habitat of Cervalces scotti and caused its extinction by outcompetition. [1] Although there is no paleontological evidence that it was associated with humans, [19] other theories for its extinction have been proposed. Notably, there is speculation that hunting by newly arrived humans caused the extinction of Cervalces scotti and other large mammals. [20] Additionally, some have proposed a sudden extinction by disease, brought by small mammals in association with humans. [8] The oldest known fossil of Cervalces scotti was found in the bed of the Skunk River in Iowa, with the specimen dating back approximately 30,000 years ago. The area in which the fossil was found and the date implies that Cervalces scotti lived before a massive ice sheet covered the area in which it inhabited, which could also be a possible cause of its extinction. [21] Since the stag-moose resided in a woodland habitat, climate change and loss of natural pastures also could have played a role in its extinction. [22]
Cervalces scotti probably lived in a narrow geographic range, characterized by a spruce-dominant mixed conifer and deciduous wet woodland [23] which may have made it more vulnerable to extinction. Remains of Cervalces scotti found in modern-day Ohio have suggested that it and Homo sapiens could have possibly interacted. Fossils of both Cervalces scotti and other large extinct mammals in the area suggest that it may have been a frequent target of early human hunters. [24] Remains of the stag moose, along with Paleo Indian artifacts and the remains of the flat-headed peccary (Platygonus compressus), giant short-faced bear (Arctodus simus), and giant beaver were found in the Sheriden Cave in Wyandot County, Ohio. [25]
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.
The reindeer or caribou is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only representative of the genus Rangifer. More recent studies suggest the splitting of reindeer and caribou into six distinct species over their range.
Big Bone Lick State Park is located at Big Bone in Boone County, Kentucky. The name of the park comes from the Pleistocene megafauna fossils found there. Mammoths are believed to have been drawn to this location by a salt lick deposited around the sulfur springs. Other animals including forms of bison, caribou, deer, elk, horse, mastodon, musk ox, peccary, ground sloths, wolves, black bears, stag moose, saber-toothed cats, and possibly tapir also grazed the vegetation and salty earth around the springs that the animals relied on for their diet. The majority of fossils found in the area have been dated to the Wisconsin Glacial Period. Human burials and other signs of human habitation have also been uncovered.
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).
Pink Mountain Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada.
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.
Odocoileus lucasi, known commonly as the American mountain deer, is an extinct species of North American deer.
The Alberta Mountain forests are a temperate coniferous forests ecoregion of Western Canada, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system.
The Muskwa-Slave Lake Taiga ecoregion covers Canadian taiga in northwestern Alberta, northeastern British Columbia and a large portion of the southwestern Northwest Territories around the Mackenzie River valley and the Great Slave Lake.
The Midwest Canadian Shield Forests is an ecoregion in Canada, classified as a Taiga and Boreal Forests Biome.
The Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre is a research and exhibition facility located at km 1423 on the Alaska Highway in Whitehorse, Yukon, which opened in 1997. The focus of the interpretive centre is the story of Beringia, the 3200 km landmass stretching from the Kolyma River in Siberia to the Mackenzie River in Canada, which remained non-glaciated during the Pleistocene due to light snowfall from an arid climate. Beringia is of special interest to archeologists and paleontologists as it played a crucial role in the migrations of many animals and humans between Asia and the Americas. The term Beringia was first coined by the Swedish botanist Eric Hultén in 1937.
Throughout the State of Michigan in the United States, many people have found the remains of Pleistocene mammals, almost exclusively mammoths and mastodons. Most of these fossils are found by farmers or construction workers, but most are now in the collection of the University of Michigan. The finding of vertebrate fossils in Michigan is quite rare, so it is best to turn over any specimens to a university or museum for proper cleaning and documentation. Many of these mastodon fossils are found in Southern Michigan, mostly around Ann Arbor. Most mammoth sites are in Northern Michigan.
Paleontology in Nebraska refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Nebraska. Nebraska is world-famous as a source of fossils. During the early Paleozoic, Nebraska was covered by a shallow sea that was probably home to creatures like brachiopods, corals, and trilobites. During the Carboniferous, a swampy system of river deltas expanded westward across the state. During the Permian period, the state continued to be mostly dry land. The Triassic and Jurassic are missing from the local rock record, but evidence suggests that during the Cretaceous the state was covered by the Western Interior Seaway, where ammonites, fish, sea turtles, and plesiosaurs swam. The coasts of this sea were home to flowers and dinosaurs. During the early Cenozoic, the sea withdrew and the state was home to mammals like camels and rhinoceros. Ice Age Nebraska was subject to glacial activity and home to creatures like the giant bear Arctodus, horses, mammoths, mastodon, shovel-tusked proboscideans, and Saber-toothed cats. Local Native Americans devised mythical explanations for fossils like attributing them to water monsters killed by their enemies, the thunderbirds. After formally trained scientists began investigating local fossils, major finds like the Agate Springs mammal bone beds occurred. The Pleistocene mammoths Mammuthus primigenius, Mammuthus columbi, and Mammuthus imperator are the Nebraska state fossils.
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.
Cervalces is an extinct deer genus that lived during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs. Cervalces gallicus is either classified as a species of the related Libralces, or an ancestral species to other members of Cervalces. It lived in Europe from the Pliocene to the Pleistocene. Cervalces scotti, the stag-moose, lived in Pleistocene North America. Cervalces latifrons, the broad-fronted moose, and Cervalces carnutorum were found in Pleistocene Europe and Asia. The genus has been suggested to be paraphyletic and ancestral with respect to Alces, the genus which contains the modern moose, and as such, some authors synonymise Cervalces with Alces.
The boreal woodland caribou, also known as Eastern woodland caribou, boreal forest caribou and forest-dwelling caribou, is a North American subspecies of reindeer found primarily in Canada with small populations in the United States. Unlike the Porcupine caribou and barren-ground caribou, boreal woodland caribou are primarily sedentary.
Alces gallicus, also known as the Gallic moose, is an extinct species of moose, which has been found in Europe. It is believed to have lived in Pleistocene about 2 MYA. This species was smaller than recent moose, but it had longer antlers than it's modern relatives. Antlers structure similar to Cervalces, consisted of very long beams and relatively small palms. It is sometimes included in the genus Libralces or Cervalces.
{{cite book}}
: |work=
ignored (help)