Page 58 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #12

WILDNEWS

DISCOVERY

Prehistoric Irish elk skull

found by ishermen

hen he first saw it, fisherman
WCharlie Coyle thought he was
looking at the devil. “Throw it back
in!” he said to boat mate, Raymond
McElroy. But it wasn’t the devil, it was
the fantastically well-preserved skull and
antlers of an Irish elk, a species that died
out in Ireland 10,000 years ago. The
pair hauled the skull aboard on a recent
fishing trip on Lough Neagh, in Northern
Ireland. “I’ve been on Lough Neagh
45 years and I never thought I’d find
something that historical.” says Coyle.
The Irish elk was, in fact, a species
of deer – the biggest to walk the earth. Elk illustration: Roman Uchyte /Sc ence Photo L brary; sku
And it’s certainly not exclusively Irish The Irish elk had an
antler span of over
– it roamed what is now modern-day
3m; the skull (below)
Europe, northern Africa and Asia. found in Lough
The skull’s authenticity has been Neagh weighed
confirmed by Dr Mike Simms at the about 60kg.
Ulster Museum in Belfast. It’s the
best-preserved specimen he’s seen in
his time at the museum. Such remains
occasionally turn up in Ireland in eel: Neil Aldridge; tortoise: Wild Wonders of Europe/Widstrand/NPL; tiger: Correia Patrice/Alamy
particular, partly thanks to the muddy
lake sediments in which it is believed and ant ers: Raymond McE roy; sea otter: Suz
the elk sometimes became stuck.
“In other countries there’s not
the same sort of situation,” says Dr
Simms. “A combination of ancient
lake sediments and peat bogs.” FIND OUT MORE Starvation‘wiped
Chris Baraniuk out’ giant deer: https://bbc.in/2CS8G7I Eszterhas/FLPA;

Nature in brief

Feeling the way Slow and steady

Sea otters can detect subtle Aesop’s fable of The Hare and
diferences in surface textures the Tortoise now has scientific
from the most fleeting contact support. New research
with their paws or whiskers, published in Scientific Reports
reports Journal of Experimental reveals the fastest sprinters are
Biology. This tactile sensitivity the slowest, on average, over
allows them to hunt e ciently their lifetimes, because they
for shellfish in low light. spend more time at a standstill.

Tracking eels Triumph for tigers
Conservationists at WWT Nepal is on track to double its
Slimbridge in Gloucestershire wild tiger population to almost
are microchipping Critically 250 by 2022, so becoming the
Endangered European eels to world’s first country to double
understand their behaviour at its tiger numbers in line with the
the reserve and, eventually, target set at the St. Petersburg
the wider Severn Vale. Tiger Summit in 2010.

58 BBC Wildlife December 2018