{{Short description|Extinct species of deer}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = {{fossil range|Pleistocene|0.011}} | image = Cervalces_scotti_-_MUSE.JPG | image_caption = Replica skeleton at MUSE | genus = Cervalces | species = scotti | authority = Lydekker, 1898 }}
'''''Cervalces scotti''''', also known as '''stag-moose''', is an [[Extinction|extinct]] species of large deer that lived in [[North America]] during the Late [[Pleistocene]] epoch.<ref name="jefferson">{{cite web | url = http://www.ansp.org/museum/jefferson/otherFossils/cervalces.php | title = Stag Moose (Cervalces scotti) | access-date = 2007-03-03 | publisher = The [[Academy of Natural Sciences]] | archive-date = 2007-02-16 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070216031241/http://www.ansp.org/museum/jefferson/otherFossils/cervalces.php | url-status = dead }}</ref> It is the only known North American member of the genus ''[[Cervalces]]''. Its closest living relative is the modern [[moose]] (''Alces alces'').
It had palmate antlers that were more complex than those of a moose and a muzzle more closely resembling that of a typical [[deer]].<ref>"AMNH Bestiary." AMNH Bestiary. American Museum of Natural History, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014</ref>
==Description== [[File:Life restoration cervalces scotti.jpg|thumb|''Cervalces scotti'' size chart.]] It was as large as the modern moose, with an [[elk]]-like head, long legs, and palmate antlers that were more complex and heavily branching than the moose.<ref>Raia, Pasquale, Federico Passaro, Francesco Carotenuto, Leonardo Maiorino, Paolo Piras, Luciano Teresi, Shai Meiri et al. "Cope’s rule and the universal scaling law of ornament complexity." The American Naturalist 186, no. 2 (2015): 165-175.</ref> ''Cervalces scotti'' reached {{convert|2.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} in length and a weight of {{convert|708.5|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite web|last=Strauss |first=Bob |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/stag-moose-cervalces-scotti-1093143 |title=Stag Moose - Facts and Figures |publisher=Thoughtco.com |access-date=2018-06-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://laignoranciadelconocimiento.blogspot.com.es/2011/12/cervalces.html |title=(in Spanish) |publisher=Laignoranciadelconocimiento.blogspot.com.es |date=2011-10-13 |access-date=2018-06-04}}</ref> The stag-moose resided in North America during an era with other [[megafauna]] such as the [[woolly mammoth]], [[ground sloth]], [[long horn bison]], and [[smilodon]].<ref name="maxillaandmandible.com">"Cervalces Scotti." Maxilla & Mandible. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014. <http://maxillaandmandible.com/portfolio/cervalces-scotti/>.</ref> The species became extinct approximately 11,500 years ago, toward the end of the most recent [[ice age]], as part of a [[Quaternary extinction event|mass extinction of large North American mammals]].<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/larson/cervalces.html | title = Stag-moose | access-date = 2007-03-03 | publisher = [[Illinois State Museum]] }}</ref><ref name="nytimes">{{cite web | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/29/science/disease-is-new-suspect-in-ancient-extinctions.html?sec=health&pagewanted=print | title = Disease Is New Suspect in Ancient Extinctions | access-date = 2007-03-04 | last = Stevens | first = William K. | date = April 29, 1997 | work = [[The New York Times]] }}</ref>
The first evidence of ''Cervalces scotti'' found in modern times was discovered at [[Big Bone Lick]], [[Kentucky]] by [[William Clark (explorer)|William Clark]], ''circa'' 1805. A more complete skeleton was found in 1885 by William Barryman Scott in [[New Jersey]].<ref name="jefferson" /> Mummified remains have also been found.<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe: The Story of Blue Babe|author=Guthrie, R.D.|date=1990|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=9780226311234|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ikKezOKRB4C|access-date=2015-06-12}}</ref> One of the most complete ''Cervalces'' skulls ever discovered was dredged from a pond in [[Kendallville, Indiana]] and dated to 13,500 BP.<ref name="ISM">{{cite web |title=Stag-moose |url=https://exhibits.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/larson/cervalces.html |website=exhibits.museum.state.il.us |publisher=Illinois State Museum |access-date=23 November 2020}}</ref>
==Extinction== ''Cervalces scotti'', like several other members of its genus, probably lived in marshes, swamps and bogs, as well as spruce-taiga floral communities. There were also surroundings ranging from tundra–mixed coniferous forests to deciduous woodlands. These sedges and willows may not have been suitable food products, but they provide an imagery of the ecology of the stag-moose. The change in flora and fauna due to complete deglaciation probably also affected the living conditions of the stag-moose in states like Iowa and Wisconsin, where the stag-moose was found at more than 20 sites.<ref name="Bower, Bruce 1990">Bower, Bruce. "America's Talk: The Great Divide." Science News 137.23 (1990): 360-362. JSTOR. Web</ref> The stag-moose reproduced more often than megaherbivores, and so the hypothesis is that the stag-moose's disappearance is linked to the emergence of the "true moose" instead.<ref>Levy, Sharon. "Clashing with Titans." BioScience 56.4 (2006): 292. Web.</ref><ref>McDonald, H. Gregory. "New Records of the Elk-moose Cervalces scotti from Ohio". American Midland Naturalist 122.2 (1989): 349-356. JSTOR. Web.</ref><ref>O'Gorman, Jodie A. and Lovis, William A. "Before Removal: An Archaeological Perspective on the Southern Lake Michigan Basin". Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 31.1: 24. Web</ref>
== Palaeobiology == ''Cervalces scotti'' is thought to have evolved from a population of ''[[Cervalces latifrons]]'' that migrated into North America probably sometime during the [[Middle Pleistocene]].<ref>{{Citation |last1=Niedziałkowska |first1=Magdalena |date=2020 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65038-8_23-1 |pages=1–32 |editor-last=Hackländer |editor-first=Klaus |access-date=2023-06-14 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-65038-8_23-1 |isbn=978-3-319-65038-8 |last2=Neumann |first2=Wiebke |last3=Borowik |first3=Tomasz |last4=Kołodziej-Sobocińska |first4=Marta |last5=Malmsten |first5=Jonas |last6=Arnemo |first6=Jon M. |last7=Ericsson |first7=Göran |title=Handbook of the Mammals of Europe |chapter=Moose Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758) |editor2-last=Zachos |editor2-first=Frank E.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> It shared the spruce parkland ecosystem with other herbivorous megafauna, such as the [[caribou]] (''Rangifer tarandus''), the [[Bootherium|woodland musk-ox]] (''Bootherium bombifrons''), and the [[Castoroides|giant beaver]] (''Castoroides'' sp.),<ref>End of the Pleistocene: elk-moose (Cervalces) and caribou (Rangifer) in Wisconsin Charles A. Long Christopher J. Yahnke Journal of Mammalogy, Volume 92, Issue 5, 14 October 2011, Pages 1127–1135, https://doi.org/10.1644/10-MAMM-A-395.1</ref><ref name="Bower, Bruce 1990" /> in a range from what is now southern [[Canada]] to [[Arkansas]] and from [[Iowa]] to New Jersey. As the [[glacier]]s retreated, moose (which had crossed the [[Bering land bridge]] from Asia)<ref>{{cite book |author=George A. Feldhamer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-xQalfqP7BcC&q=%22stag+moose%22+pleistocene+habitat+bering&pg=PA931 |title=Moose |author2=Joseph A. Chapman |author3=Bruce Carlyle Thompson |work=Wild Mammals of North America: Biology, Management, and Conservation |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |year=1982 |isbn=9780801874161 |page=931 |access-date=2007-03-04}}</ref> may have populated the habitat of ''Cervalces scotti'' and caused its extinction by outcompetition.<ref name="jefferson" /> Although there is no paleontological evidence that it was associated with humans,<ref>{{cite web |title=Stag-Moose |url=http://www.amnh.org/science/biodiversity/extinction/Resources/Bestiary/Artiodactyla2.html#Stag-Moose |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405174757/http://www.amnh.org/science/biodiversity/extinction/Resources/Bestiary/Artiodactyla2.html#Stag-Moose |archive-date=2007-04-05 |access-date=2007-03-03 |work=Bestiary |publisher=[[American Museum of Natural History]]}}</ref> other theories for its extinction have been proposed. Notably, there is speculation that hunting by newly arrived humans caused the extinction of ''Cervalces scotti'' and other [[Megafauna|large mammals]].<ref name="nrdc">{{cite web |author=Sharon Levy |year=2006 |title=Mammoth Mystery |url=http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/06win/mammoth1.asp |access-date=2007-03-04 |publisher=[[Natural Resources Defense Council]]}}</ref> Additionally, some have proposed a sudden extinction by disease, brought by small mammals in association with humans.<ref name="nytimes" /> The oldest known fossil of ''Cervalces scotti'' was found in the bed of the Skunk River in Iowa, with the specimen dating back approximately 30,000 years ago. The area in which the fossil was found and the date implies that ''Cervalces scotti'' lived before a massive ice sheet covered the area in which it inhabited, which could also be a possible cause of its extinction.<ref name="radioiowa">{{cite web |date=23 September 2013 |title=Oldest known stag-moose fossil resides in Iowa |url=http://www.radioiowa.com/2013/09/23/oldest-known-stag-moose-fossil-resides-in-iowa/ |access-date=2015-06-12 |publisher=radioiowa.com}}</ref> Since the stag-moose resided in a woodland habitat, climate change and loss of natural pastures also could have played a role in its extinction.<ref>Strauss, Bob. [http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/mesozoicmammals/p/Stag-Moose-Cervalces-Scotti.htm "Stag Moose (Cervalces Scotti)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024083752/http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/mesozoicmammals/p/Stag-Moose-Cervalces-Scotti.htm |date=2014-10-24 }}. About. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 October 2014.</ref>
''Cervalces scotti'' probably lived in a narrow geographic range, characterized by a spruce-dominant mixed conifer and deciduous wet woodland<ref>Blaine W.Schubert, Russell Wm.Graham, H.GregoryMcDonald, Eric C.Grimm, Thomas W.Stafford, Jr. Latest Pleistocene paleoecology of Jefferson's ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) and elk-moose (Cervalces scotti) in northern Illinois Quaternary Research Volume 61, Issue 2, March 2004, Pages 231-240</ref> which may have made it more vulnerable to extinction. Remains of ''Cervalces scotti'' found in modern-day Ohio have suggested that it and ''Homo sapiens'' could have possibly interacted. Fossils of both ''Cervalces scotti'' and other large extinct mammals in the area suggest that it may have been a frequent target of early human hunters.<ref>Mayhood, Kevin. "Solving a 10,000-year-old mystery - Researchers study clues to figure out what killed giant ice age moose." Columbus Dispatch, The (OH) 16 Sep. 2008, Home Final, News - Science: 04B. NewsBank. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.</ref> Remains of the stag moose, along with [[Paleo-Indians|Paleo Indian]] artifacts and the remains of the [[flat-headed peccary]] (''Platygonus compressus),'' [[Arctodus|giant short-faced bear]] (''Arctodus simus''), and giant beaver were found in the [[Sheriden Cave]] in [[Wyandot County, Ohio]].<ref name="Redmond">{{cite web |author=Brian G. Redmond |date=March 2006 |title=Before the Western Reserve: An Archaeological History of Northeast Ohio |url=https://www.cmnh.org/CMNH/media/CMNH_Media/C-R%20Docs/BeforeWR.pdf |access-date=January 28, 2020 |publisher=The Cleveland Museum of Natural History |page=2}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20130204215014/http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu/education/ice-age-res/stag.shtml Stag Moose Image Gallery]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q16882783}}
[[Category:Cervalces]] [[Category:Prehistoric deer]] [[Category:Pleistocene Artiodactyla]] [[Category:Pleistocene extinctions]] [[Category:Pleistocene mammals of North America]] [[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1885]] [[Category:Pleistocene mammals of Europe]]