Stag-moose

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Stag-moose
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Genus: Cervalces
Scott, 1885
Species: C. scotti
Binomial name
Cervalces scotti

The Stag-moose or Stag moose (Cervalces scotti) was a large moose-like mammal of North America of the Pleistocene era.[1] It was slightly larger than the moose, with an elk-like head, long legs, and complex palmate antlers. The species went 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.[2][3]

The first evidence of the stag-moose found in modern times was discovered at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky by William Clark, ca. 1805. A more complete skeleton was found in 1885 by William Barryman Scott in New Jersey.[1]

The stag-moose frequented wetlands in a range from southern Canada to Arkansas and from Iowa to New Jersey. As the glaciers retreated, moose (which had crossed the Bering land bridge from Asia)[4] may have populated its habitat and caused its extinction by competition.[1] Although there is no paleontological evidence that it was associated with humans,[5] other theories for its extinction have been proposed. Notably, there is speculation that hunting by newly-arrived humans caused the extinction of the stag-moose and other large mammals.[6] Additionally, some have proposed a sudden extinction by disease, brought by small mammals in association with humans.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Stag Moose (Cervalces scotti). The Academy of Natural Sciences. Retrieved on March 3, 2007.
  2. ^ Stag-moose. Illinois State Museum. Retrieved on March 3, 2007.
  3. ^ a b Stevens, William K. (29). Disease Is New Suspect in Ancient Extinctions. The New York Times. Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
  4. ^ George A. Feldhamer; Joseph A. Chapman, Bruce Carlyle Thompson (1982). Moose. Wild Mammals of North America: Biology, Management, and Conservation 931. Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
  5. ^ Stag-Moose. Bestiary. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved on March 3, 2007.
  6. ^ Sharon Levy (2006). Mammoth Mystery. Natural Resources Defense Council. Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
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