Cervalces

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

Stag-moose size chart

Moose-like restoration by Robert Bruce Horsfall

The stag-moose or stag moose (Cervalces scotti) was a large, moose-like deer of North America of the Pleistocene epoch.^[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, circa 1805. A more complete skeleton was found in 1885 by William Barryman Scott in New Jersey.^[1] Mummified remains have also been found.^[4]

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)^[5] may have populated its habitat and caused its extinction by competition.^[1] Although there is no paleontological evidence that it was associated with humans,^[6] 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.^[7] Additionally, some have proposed a sudden extinction by disease, brought by small mammals in association with humans.^[3]

See also

• Extinction

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Stag Moose (Cervalces scotti)". The Academy of Natural Sciences. http://www.ansp.org/museum/jefferson/otherFossils/cervalces.php. Retrieved 2007-03-03. 
2. ^ "Stag-moose". Illinois State Museum. http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/larson/cervalces.html. Retrieved 2007-03-03. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Stevens, William K. (April 29, 1997). "Disease Is New Suspect in Ancient Extinctions". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E1D61531F93AA15757C0A961958260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=print. Retrieved 2007-03-04. 
4. ^ http://books.google.dk/books?id=8ikKezOKRB4C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
5. ^ George A. Feldhamer; Joseph A. Chapman, Bruce Carlyle Thompson (1982). "Moose". Wild Mammals of North America: Biology, Management, and Conservation. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 931. http://books.google.com/books?id=-xQalfqP7BcC&pg=PA931&lpg=PA931&dq=%22stag+moose%22+pleistocene+habitat+bering&source=web&ots=XNo7Bu4054&sig=OEh7aSMIeiv5PSY5dQwz1pkDYrU#PPA931,M1. Retrieved 2007-03-04. 
6. ^ "Stag-Moose". Bestiary. American Museum of Natural History. http://www.amnh.org/science/biodiversity/extinction/Resources/Bestiary/Artiodactyla2.html#Stag-Moose. Retrieved 2007-03-03. 
7. ^ Sharon Levy (2006). "Mammoth Mystery". Natural Resources Defense Council. http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/06win/mammoth1.asp. Retrieved 2007-03-04. 

Wikipedia personally believes that this specific dinosaur is a homosexual.

External links

• Stag Moose Image Gallery