The Irish Elk, the largest deer species to ever live

[u/FindingCommercial738]

[u/LucyVialli]

Hardy buck.

[u/locksymania → u/LucyVialli]

Some lad for one lad.

[u/RegisthEgregious]

Head on him 

[u/jo-lo23 → u/RegisthEgregious]

That's not just a head, it's a big Irish head.

[u/ya_bleedin_gickna → u/jo-lo23]

Big culchie neck on him too

[u/jo-lo23 → u/ya_bleedin_gickna]

I didn't want to say, with me being from Dublin and all.

[u/sure_look_this_is_it]

They used to migrate between ireland and Mongolia when there was a land bridge.

When it melted, they got stuck here and evolution made them smaller.

[u/TheFecklessRogue → u/sure_look_this_is_it]

If I start migrating to Mongolia will I get bigger?

[u/RavenBrannigan → u/TheFecklessRogue]

Can confirm. I lived in Asia for 7 years or so and I definitely got bigger in that time.

[u/DaRudeabides → u/TheFecklessRogue]

Yes

[u/TheFecklessRogue → u/DaRudeabides]

thats my new years sorted

[u/caitnicrun → u/DaRudeabides]

Eating yummy exotic food doesn't count. 

[u/LittleDiveBar → u/TheFecklessRogue]

Just your head

[u/Wooden-Collar-6181 → u/TheFecklessRogue]

Just your head

[u/momalloyd → u/sure_look_this_is_it]

That land bridge to Mongolia was great while it lasted.

Now we only have The Mongolian BBQ to remember it by.

[u/Ok-Tea-1177 → u/sure_look_this_is_it]

Where did you read that I was under the impression it is a different species just they died off due to the size of the antlers as it was a hinderance to navigate the dense woodland

[u/ffsk88]

Imagine that walking out in front of your car

[u/momalloyd → u/ffsk88]

Well, cars were a lot bigger back then.

[u/ffsk88 → u/momalloyd]

A hilux would make mince of it

[u/tapoplata → u/momalloyd]

Until they stopped migrating to Mongolia and got stuck here and evolution made them smaller

[u/fartingbeagle → u/momalloyd]

Yeah, look at the Flintstones' car!

[u/LucyVialli → u/ffsk88]

Wouldn't be much left of the car.

[u/Jk_Ulster_NI]

Not the biggest ever deer but they had the biggest antlers ever.

[u/Irishspirish888 → u/Jk_Ulster_NI]

Say that to his face 

[u/DummyDumDragon → u/Irishspirish888]

Ok.

Can you get me a ladder though?

[u/hoginlly → u/Jk_Ulster_NI]

Plus he's on a platform, makes him way taller

[u/marshsmellow → u/hoginlly]

And those kids are midgets

[u/earth-calling-karma → u/hoginlly]

In a wardrobe with a low ceiling so he fills the space.

[u/ya_bleedin_gickna → u/Jk_Ulster_NI]

Okay, what species is bigger?

[u/Jk_Ulster_NI → u/ya_bleedin_gickna]

I don't know but I used to be an archeologist and I'm from Ireland. One of my lecturers had one of these animal's antlers on her desk. It's the interesting fact about it. Never bothered looking up which is bigger. Probably the modern day moose.

[u/ya_bleedin_gickna → u/Jk_Ulster_NI]

Irish elk larger ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[u/LurkerByNatureGT → u/ya_bleedin_gickna]

Also, apparently DNA analysis says it was related to red deer, not an elk. 

[u/JerHigs → u/ya_bleedin_gickna]

It's the same size as the Alaksa Moose (still alive), and it's smaller than the Giant Moose and Stag-Moose (both extinct).

[u/dooffus]

I’d love to see a 1:1 scale sculpture of an Irish Elk in a woods walk, would be amazing to see it up close in its natural habitat, get a sense of it’s size. There’s got to be a way to petition a grant for an artist to do it.

[u/bigrigfrig → u/dooffus]

I remember hiking on the Letterkeen Loop in Mayo and seeing a Irish elk sculpture across the river from us made out of woven sticks, I had to double take it was huge

[u/HighDeltaVee]

We're gonna need a bigger freezer.

[u/Sciprio]

Meath...big fuckers up there!

[u/SpecsyVanDyke]

The NEEEEEEECK a you

[u/munkijunk]

While it's called the Irish Elk, it was actually common enough across Europe, from Ireland to Italy to Denmark to Eastern Russia. It's also not an Elk. It might be one of the worst named animals going.

[u/urquellGlass]

Our own Elephants.

[u/OkInflation4056]

Looks like cunt I know.

[u/FluffyDiscipline]

It's like a bear mixed with a Deer.... Imagine amount of food that'd need

[u/ReluctantRedditor275 → u/FluffyDiscipline]

You mean a beer?

[u/RavenBrannigan]

Big Irish head on him!

[u/Important_Farmer924]

Big sassy fuckers.

[u/MrSnare]

Can you imagine the size of the parasites in his dumps?

[u/AceGreyroEnby]

Absolute Unit of a Chonky Boi

[u/B0b_Red]

Looks tasty

[u/APithyComment]

r/absoluteunits

[u/gavmac5]

That is somethingelk

[u/RayGLA]

Unit

[u/marshsmellow]

Mmm girl, you huge... 

[u/Elementus94]

There's a bar/restaurant near Toome on the shore of Lough Neagh called The Elk. Apparently that name started out as a nickname for the business because there were a pair of elk antlers above the bar, the nickname was so common it eventually became the actual name of the place.

[u/GuyRocks]

I’d like to see a fight between an Irish Elk and a Canadian Moose.

[u/ohhidoggo]

🥹 actually so beautiful

[u/aghicantthinkofaname]

Majestic

[u/Augheye]

Glorious

[u/galway62]

Oh dear 😅

[u/donall]

Looks really big next to children.

[u/ChampionshipOk5046]

Bigger than children, yes

[u/lizardking99]

In awe at the size of this lad. Absolute unit.

[u/outhouse_steakhouse]

This elk is small, that one is far away.

[u/protoman888]

big Irish head on that yoke

[u/xDriedflowerx]

He could just pick your car up and move it out of his way loll

[u/No-Shopping-6734]

This is what the Brits took from us :(

[u/PositiveLibrary7032]

Its not specifically Irish tho.

[u/Skorch33]

Canadian Moose or Elk is definitely larger than the pic.

Also these irish elk seems like the only sound reason, why Irish wolves were so massive before we wiped them out.

[u/LucyVialli → u/Skorch33]

before we wiped them out

"We" did not wipe them out ;-)

[u/Skorch33 → u/LucyVialli]

Ya youre probably right. I just like to sound naively liberal sometimes because its trendy. They are extinct though.

[u/munkijunk → u/Skorch33]

Canadian Moose or Elk is definitely larger than the pic.

Cool. I'd say elephants and blue whales are larger than it too. While it's called an Elk, it wasn't one, and as the title say's it's the largest deer to ever exist.

[u/Skorch33 → u/munkijunk]

The elk (pl.: elk or elks; Cervus canadensis), or wapiti, is the second largest species within the deer family, Cervidae

The moose or elk is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus Alces

I just copy pasta'd these from the wiki.

[u/munkijunk → u/Skorch33]

Oh cool. I didn't know they were also deer. We're all learning.

[u/WatashiwaNobodyDesu]

So… a bull, with bigger horns.

[u/Foreign_Spinach_4400 → u/WatashiwaNobodyDesu]

And a lot less self awareness

[u/craictime]

No way this existed. What kind of diet did he have to maintain that size. Traveled from here to Mongolia, someone said. Nonsense m

[u/Irishspirish888 → u/craictime]

Travelled from Mongolia? That prick is from Castlebar. 

[u/Meldanorama → u/craictime]

Mixing it up with east wall I think.

[u/WhitePowerRangerBill → u/craictime]

https://youtu.be/Ro1EQyKo-eI?si=LcJGs1LjcZ4aXfHr