Extinct Animal
Irish Deer
Background Information
The Irish deer is the largest deer species ever to have lived. It evolved during the glacial periods of the last million years, during the Pleistocene Epoch. It ranged throughout Europe, northern Asia and northern Africa, and a related form is known from China.
Cause of Extinction
The Irish deer was unable to adapt to the subartic conditions of the last glaciation or the marked transition that occured after the final retreat of the ice sheet, this caused it to become extinct, the last one in Ireland dying around 11,000 years ago.