The Megaloceros Restoration Project

The 'Geo-Institute', or building 200E of the Arenberg campus site III in Heverlee (Leuven), houses an authentic fossil skeleton of a Megaloceras giganteus better known as the Irish elk or Giant deer. The department of Earth-and Environmental Sciences has been the proud owner of this awe-inspiring skeleton for more than a century. Alongside other iconic Ice Age mammals such as the woolly mammoth, or the woolly rhinoceros, the Irish Elk is one of the classic representatives of the Ice Age fauna in our regions.

Within the celebratory context of the 600 year anniversary of KU Leuven, it is our aim to give the Megaloceros a new life. The skeleton was aqcuired around 1907-1908 and served many years as the center piece of the paleontological collection erected by professor Henry de Dorlodot (1855-1929). The skeleton somehow managed to survive both world wars, the split of the university (1968) and two major departmental relocations. During all this time, the skeleton gathered dust, broken ribs and legs, fissures, cracks and scratches. In more recent years it even served as an occasional coat hanger during departmental parties and some ribs went missing over time. Anno 2025, the time has come to give the skeleton a much needed makeover.

The Megaloceros project will provide a new metallic frame for each of the +200 bones that are making up the skeleton. A thorough inventarisation of all the osteological parts will take place as well as an in-depth treatment of each bone with the latest chemical conservation products. We see this project as a unique opportunity to also include biology and geology students within the restoration and conservation process, where they can actively participate in the different steps of the conservation and restoration procedures introducing them to the practical side of vertebrate palaeontology, currently not covered during their studies.

This project, in collaboration with the 'Academic and Historical Heritage Service' and the paleontology lab of the Earth and Environmental sciences dept., will be a great contribution to the protection of university's rich paleontological heritage.