🦌🦥🐴🐘🐪 For #FossilFriday — Megaloceros giganteus, the Irish elk, which I was able to visit in June. Specimen USNM 7051 is masterfully mounted at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
The mount features a massive steel armature to support its nearly 3.4–3.6 meter antler spread. Studies show Megaloceros dropped and regrew its antlers each year.
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#pleistocene #megalocerosgiganteus #paleontology #iceage #giantdeer #citizenscience Skull mount photos credit: NMNH/Loren Ybarrondo