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Marcus Brandel
@lostbones.bsky.social

🦌 #FossilFriday — Megaloceros giganteus, specimen USNM 7051. Masterfully mounted at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History its ~3.6‑meter antlers supported by a structural steel carriage #pleistocene #megalocerosgiganteus #citizenscience Skull mount photos credit: NMNH/Loren Ybarrondo

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Marcus Brandel
@lostbones.bsky.social

Deer, moose, and elk all belong to the biological family Cervidae (the deer family). That said the closest living relative of the Irish elk by DNA is the fallow deer (genus Dama) - more than 90 percent of their genetics match.