Irish elk vanished just as climate change degraded food quality, straining weapon-rebuild costs.
Evidence
The time when Irish elk disappear coincides precisely with a period of rapid climate change called “the Younger Dryas.” This would have lowered the quality of available food and made it even more difficult for males to replenish the calcium and phosphorus cost of their weapons. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 320
Categorization
- XREF: Parallels human arms races where regime change in resource availability crashes the losing side; echoes the fallow deer in Phoenix Park dynamic.
- SEED: Essay angle: How environmental shocks convert peacetime military over-investment into existential catastrophe — the Irish elk as metaphor.
Related
- Costly weaponry can drive a species extinct when resources degrade. (similarity 0.79)