Megaloceros giganteus

Smaller in size than the male, the Megaloceros giganteus doe does not have antlers. These two specimens, male and female, are among the oldest fossils mounted at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle. They were present in the ruminant exhibition hall of the Cuvier galleries and were included in the very first herd of fossil mammals assembled by the palaeontologist Albert Gaudry in a temporary museum which predated the construction of the present Gallery, in 1885. They were also present at the Universal Exhibition of 1867.

This skeleton was mounted at the Museum in 1857, with bones collected from an Irish bog.