[4][5] The stag-moose resided in North America during an era with other megafauna such as the woolly mammoth, ground sloth, long horn bison, and smilodon.

[7][8] The first evidence of Cervalces scotti found in modern times was discovered at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky by William Clark, circa 1805.

[16] It shared the spruce parkland ecosystem with other herbivorous megafauna, such as the caribou (Rangifer tarandus), the woodland musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus), and the giant beaver (Castoroides sp.

As the glaciers retreated, moose (which had crossed the Bering land bridge from Asia)[18] may have populated the habitat of Cervalces scotti and caused its extinction by outcompetition.

[8] The oldest known fossil of Cervalces scotti was found in the bed of the Skunk River in Iowa, with the specimen dating back approximately 30,000 years ago.

[22] Cervalces scotti probably lived in a narrow geographic range, characterized by a spruce-dominant mixed conifer and deciduous wet woodland[23] which may have made it more vulnerable to extinction.