-
Important news
-
News
-
Shenzhen
-
China
-
World
-
Opinion
-
Sports
-
Kaleidoscope
-
Photo Highlights
-
Business
-
Markets
-
Business/Markets
-
World Economy
-
Speak Shenzhen
-
Leisure Highlights
-
Culture
-
Travel
-
Entertainment
-
Digital Paper
-
In depth
-
Weekend
-
Lifestyle
-
Diversions
-
Movies
-
Hotels
-
Special Report
-
Yes Teens
-
News Picks
-
Tech and Science
-
Glamour
-
Campus
-
Budding Writers
-
Fun
-
Futian Today
-
Advertorial
-
FOCUS
-
Guide
-
Nanshan
-
Hit Bravo
-
People
-
Person of the week
-
Majors Forum
-
Shopping
-
Investment
-
Tech and Vogue
-
Junior Journalist Program
-
Currency Focus
-
Food Drink
-
Restaurants
-
Yearend Review
-
CHTF Special
-
QINGDAO TODAY
在线翻译:
szdaily -> Kaleidoscope -> 
10,500-year-old skull from extinct Irish elk pulled from lake
    2018-09-13  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

THE enormous skull of an extinct Irish elk has been pulled from a lake by fishermen in Northern Ireland.

The near fully intact skull and antlers, which measure 6 feet (1.8 meters) across, are estimated by scientists to be 10,500 years old.

Irish elk roamed Europe up to 10,000 years ago, and are actually a large species of deer — one of the biggest to ever walk the Earth.

They went extinct as Ireland’s changing climate triggered the rapid growth of thick forests, which proved tricky for the antlered animal to navigate.

Fishermen Raymond McElroy and Charlie Coyle caught the antlers in their net in Lough Neagh, a large freshwater lake in Northern Ireland.

They were fishing about a half mile (0.8 kilometers) from shore in water less than 20 feet deep.

“I was shocked to begin with when I got it over the side [of the boat] and saw the skull and antlers,” McElroy told BelfastLive.

Irish elk stood up to 7 feet at the shoulder, with antlers spanning up to 12 feet.

The species is actually misnamed, for it was neither an elk nor exclusively Irish, roaming large swathes of Europe, northern Asia and northern Africa.

The name “Irish” has stuck because well-preserved fossils of the giant deer are especially common in lake sediments and peat bogs in Ireland.

Lough Neagh has proved a bountiful spot for Irish elk remains, with a fisherman named Felix Conlon also finding a set of skull and antlers there in 1987.

A 14,000-year-old Irish elk jawbone was found on the lakebed in 2014 by Kenneth James, the curator of the Ulster Museum in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The bone was found by James at a spot close to the location of the newly discovered skull and antlers, suggesting they may be from the same creature.

The skull is being kept by McElroy in his garage until experts decide what to do with it.

Irish elk thrived in Ireland when the weather was suitable on the grass plains, said Dr. Mike Simms, a palaeontologist at the Ulster Museum.

(SD-Agencies)

深圳报业集团版权所有, 未经授权禁止复制; Copyright 2010, All Rights Reserved.
Shenzhen Daily E-mail:szdaily@szszd.com.cn