what is the worlds largest deer species?

Answer 1

Moose (or Elk as it is called in europe)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose

Answer 2

Irish Elk were the biggest species of deer that have every lived but are no longer around but the 2 largest are types of mooses the bull moose which can weight up to 1400 lbs and the tundra moose which is found in alaska which can weight up to 1800 lbs

Answer 3

A male moose, also called a “bull” normally weighs between 1200 - 1600 lbs. It can be up to 7 feet tall at the shoulder and can have an antler span of over 64 inches. The largest moose ever found was in Alaska. That moose stood 7.7 feet tall at the shoulder and weighed 1,815 lbs. Its antlers were 79 inches across! That’s a lot of venison.

Answer 4

elk is the correct answer, Alces alces, the largest extant deer species, called the elk in Europe and the moose in North America.

Answer 5

the answer is the alaskan moose, but the largest that everlived is the irish elk of europe, they stood up to 12 feet and had a huge set of antlers

Answer 6

The moose (Alces alces) is the world's largest member of the deer family.

http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/pubs/notebook/biggame/moose.php

Answer 7

It is the Moose or Eurasian Elk...Alces alces.up to 9.5ft tall.

The American Elk or Wapiti ..Cervus elaphus only gets to 8.5ft.

The reindeer or caribou...Rangifer tarandus gets up to 7.5 ft.

Answer 8

that would be the elk or as the americans call it the moose
The moose (so named in North America) or elk (in Europe), Alces alces, is the largest member of the deer family Cervidae, distinguished from the others by the palmate antlers of its males. Moose eat saplings and shrubs, and the name moose is from mus or mooz (‘twig eater’) in several of the Algonquian languages, spoken by certain indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Moose are typical of boreal and mixed deciduous forests of the Northern Hemisphere in temperate to subarctic climates. In North America, that includes almost all of Canada, Alaska, much of New England, and the upper Rockies. Moose have been successfully introduced on the island of Newfoundland in 1904 where they are now the dominant ungulate, and somewhat less successfully on Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Ten moose were also introduced in Fiordland, New Zealand in 1910, but they apparently died off. Nevertheless, there have been reported sightings that were thought to be false until moose hair samples were found by a New Zealand scientist in 2002.[1]


Physical characteristics

Antlers
The male moose's antlers arise as cylindrical beams projecting on each side at right angles to the middle line of the skull, which after a short distance divide in a fork-like manner. The lower prong of this fork may be either simple, or divided into two or three tines, with some flattening.


A full grown bull moose from British Columbia with early (May) antlersIn the East Siberian race of the elk (Alces alces bedfordiae) the posterior division of the main fork divides into three tines, with no distinct flattening. In the common elk (Alces alces alces), on the other hand, this branch usually expands into a broad palmation, with one large tine at the base, and a number of smaller snags on the free border.

There is, however, a Scandinavian phase of the common elk in which the antlers are simpler, and recall those of the East Siberian race.

The palmation appears to be more marked in the North American race, the moose (Alces alces americanus) than in the typical Scandinavian elk. The largest of all is the Alaskan race (Alces alces gigas), which can stand over 2 m (6.5 ft) in height, with a span across the antlers of 1.8 m (6 ft).

The male moose will drop its antlers after mating season in order to conserve energy for the winter season. It will then regrow them in the spring. The antlers take about three to five months to grow. This makes their antlers one of the fastest growing organs in the world. The antlers initially have a layer of skin, which will shed off once fully grown.


A moose crossing a river.
Other characteristics
The great length of the legs gives a decidedly lanky appearance to the moose. The muzzle is long and fleshy, with only a very small triangular naked patch below the nostrils; and the males have a peculiar sac, known as the bell, hanging from the neck. The chief food of moose consists of young shoots and leaves of willow and birch, tree bark and mast (the fallen nuts of forest trees) in winter, and waterplants (such as Arnicus brucitus). These ruminants are often found feeding in wetlands and swamps. Their teeth resemble those of other ruminants such as deer, cows, sheep and goats. On each side of the lower jaw they have three molars, three premolars and four front teeth, one of which is a transformed canine. In the upper jaw there are no front teeth, only a plate of horn against which the food is chewed. The usual stride of a moose is a shambling trot but, when pressed, they can break into a gallop and reach speeds of up to 55 km/h (34 mph).

Male moose (bulls) normally weighs between 540 - 720 kg (1200 - 1600 lbs) and females (cows) usually weigh about 400 kg (880 lb). The typical moose stands about 1.9 meters (6.2 feet) at the shoulder. Calves weigh around 15 kg (33 lb) at birth but quickly increase in size. Only the males have antlers, often 160 cm (64 inches) across and 20 kg (44 lb) in weight with a broad, flattened palmate shape fringed in up to 30 tines. An Alaskan moose discovered in 1897 holds the record for being the largest known modern deer; it was a male standing 2.34 m (7.7 feet) at the shoulders and weighing 825 kg. Its antler spread was 199 cm (79 inches).


History
European rock drawings and cave paintings reveal that the elk or moose has been hunted since the stone age. Excavations in Alby, Sweden adjacent to the Stora Alvaret have yielded elk antlers in wooden hut remains from 6000 BC, indicating some of the earliest elk hunting in northern Europe. In Northern Scandinavia one can still find remains of trapping pits used for hunting elk. These pits, which can measure up to 4 x 7 m in plan and be up to 2 m deep, would have been camouflaged with branches and leaves. They would have had steep sides lined with planks, making it impossible for the elk to escape once it had fallen in. The pits are normally found in large groups, crossing the elk's regular paths and stretching over several kilometres. Remains of wooden fences designed to guide the animals toward the pits have been found in bogs and peats. In Norway, an early example of these trapping devices has been dated to around 3700 BC. Trapping elk in pits is an extremely effective hunting method, and as early as the 16th century the Norwegian government tried to restrict their use. Nevertheless, the method was in use until the 19th century.

Answer 9

Moose or caibou

Answer 10

I'm not sure, but the North American Elk is HUGE - over a thousand pounds, so that might be it.