Elk-moose
Cervalces scotti
🫎
Chordata
Mammalia
Artiodactyla
Pecora
Cervidae
Cervalces
Cervalces scotti
A North‑American giant that bridged moose and deer. With a body the size of a modern moose and antlers shaped like a huge deer’s, the stag‑moose thrived in North America’s spruce parklands before humans arrived.
Description
Cervalces scotti measured about 2.5 m long, stood 1.8 m tall at the shoulder and weighed roughly 700 kg. Its antlers were broad and palmate with upward‑facing tines reaching ~2 m wide. The species lived during the Late Pleistocene and is the only member of the genus in North America. It inhabited spruce‑dominated parklands and wetlands alongside mammoths, giant ground sloths and long‑horn bison. The stag‑moose likely browsed on willow, birch and aquatic plants and may have been well adapted to cold climates. It went extinct around 11,500 years ago at the end of the last ice age. Modern moose (Alces alces) migrated into North America soon after and occupied similar niches.
Quick Facts
Max Mass
Shoulder Height
Standing Height
Length
Diet
Trophic Level
630
2
3
3
kg
m
m
m
Mixed Feeder
Herbivores – Browsers
Hunt History
Direct evidence of human hunting is scarce. C. scotti fossils are sometimes found in association with human artefacts, and some authors suggest Paleoindians may have hunted or scavenged these deer; however, no definitive kill sites have been found. Climate change and competition with modern moose likely drove the species extinct.
1. Big Bone Lick, Kentucky (1800s discovery) – the first bones of C. scotti were discovered here and later sent to Thomas Jefferson; this site confirmed the existence of a giant North American cervid.
2. New Jersey skeleton (1885) – a nearly complete stag‑moose skeleton found in New Jersey provides detailed anatomical information.
3. Kendallville, Indiana – the most complete skull of C. scotti was dredged from a lake near Kendallville, offering insights into its impressive antlers.
Time & Range
Extinction Status
Globally Extinct
Extinction Date
Temporal Range
Region
11500
BP
Late Pleistocene
North America
Wiki Link
Fat Analysis
Fatness Profile:
Medium
Fat %
5
Est. Renderable Fat
31.5
kg
Targeted Organs
Marrow, kidney fat
Adipose Depots
Seasonal backfat, perirenal; marrow
Preferred Cuts
Long-bone marrow
Hunt Difficulty (x/5)
4