From George Turner, University of Southampton
Almost since it was discovered, the poor old Irish elk has been ridiculed as
an example of an animal that went extinct because it was rubbish
(25 March, p 36).
We used to think that way about dinosaurs too, but nowadays we all accept
that they were dynamic, sexy beasts who were just unlucky because they happened
to be around when a comet struck Earth, or whatever.
Adrian Barnett presents the idea that the elk died out because climate change
caused the composition of vegetation to shift, making it difficult for them to
obtain the minerals to make big antlers. The problem with this argument is that
only the stags had antlers. Females would have been unaffected.
The function of big antlers is to enable some males to get the upper hand
over the rest. In today’s deer species, antlers get larger with age. In red
deer, harem-holding stags tend to be at least five years old with impressive
antlers, but males are sexually mature at nine months when they have no antlers,
just a couple of bumps.
Biologists keep falling into the trap of thinking big, competitive males are
necessary for the good of the species. They’re not. Farmers who wish to maximise
the production of sheep or cattle find the vast majority of males surplus to
their requirements. I am sure that the Irish elk could have got by with a
handful of young unantlered males.
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