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a species that colonised the islands during the glacial retreat at the end of the last ice age (c. 9500 years ago); a species that was present when the English Channel was created (c. 8000 years ago); or, a species that was present in prehistory. This list includes mammals from the small islands around Great Britain and the Channel Islands.
However, in recent times some of these large mammals have been tentatively reintroduced to some areas of Britain. The largest wild mammals that remain in Britain today are predominantly members of the deer family. The red deer is the largest native mammal species, and is common throughout England, Scotland and Wales.
England boasts few large mammals, being mainly populated by smaller types. England has a few non-native species of deer which have become naturalized to the similar climate from areas of continental Europe and Southern Siberia and whilst the Scottish red deer thrives the most in Scotland , [ 3 ] smaller species of deer, both native and ...
The other three are escaped or released alien species. Moose were also formerly native to Britain, before dying out during the mid-Holocene, over 5,000 years ago. [3] The comparably sized Irish elk, which had the largest antlers of any deer was formerly also native to Britain, until becoming regionally extinct some 12,000 years ago. [4]
A Short History of the British Mammal Fauna (archived) ... Non-native, introduced in England from escapees in early 20th century; exterminated by 1945 [36] [37]
The grey squirrel is an introduced species in Great Britain, where it threatens the country's native red squirrel population. Islands, such as the British Isles, can be adversely affected by the introduction of non-native species. Often an island will have several distinct species not present on the nearest mainland, and vice versa.
In 1999, Dr Martyn Gorman, senior lecturer in zoology at Aberdeen University and vice chairman of the UK Mammal Society called for a reintroduction of wolves to the Scottish Highlands and English countryside in order to deal with the then 350,000 red deer damaging young trees in commercial forests. Scottish National Heritage considered re ...
A few endemic species are Arctic-Alpine species, survivors of Arctic species of plants and animals which either adapted to the warming climate or became isolated in suitable areas of mountains or lakes which still retained a suitable micro-climate. A common misconception is that the entirety of the British Isles was under glaciers and was ...