List of extinct animals of the British Isles

This is a list of extinct animals of the British Isles, including extirpated species. Only a small number of these are globally extinct, most famously the Irish elk, great auk and woolly mammoth. Most of the remainder survive to some extent outside the islands. The list includes introduced species only in cases where they were able to form self-sustaining colonies for a time. Only Pleistocene species, and specifically those extinct since the Ipswichian interglacial (c.130,000 - c.115,000 BP), Devensian glaciation (c.115,000 – c. 11,700 BP) or into the Holocene (c.11,700 BP - present), are included. That is: the assemblage that can be approximately considered the 'modern' fauna which displays insular differences from the mainland European fauna. The date beside each species is the last date when a specimen was observed in the wild or, where this is not known, the approximate date of extinction.

Overview

For most of its history, the British Isles were part of the main continent of Eurasia, linked by the region now known as Doggerland. Throughout the Pleistocene (Ice age) the climate alternated between cold glacial periods, including times when the climate was too cold to support much fauna, and temperate interglacials when a much larger fauna was present. Insularity first occurred around 125,000 BP, during the Ipswichian interglacial,[1] when a warming climate raised sea levels and flooded Doggerland. This temperate climate supported an assemblage of species characterised by straight-tusked elephant (Palaeodoxodon antiquus). Around 115,000 BP the climate began to cool again as the Devensian glaciation began. The temperate species began to go extinct locally (many survived in southern refugia elsewhere in Europe). With the cooling climate, the sea level fell and by 60,000 BP a land bridge reformed so new or returning species could repopulate Britain. The colder climate supported an assemblage characterised by Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenial).[2] By around 20,000 BP the climate was so cold, with much of Britain under ice and the rest a polar desert, so that little life could survive, and the glacial fauna also went extinct. The climate began to warm again around 11,700 BP, entering the present climatic period known as the Holocene. Animals repopulated Britain and Ireland. Many of the former species had gone extinct during the interval, but the majority of the surviving European temperate fauna, and some new immigrants, including modern humans (Homo sapiens), were able to reach Britain until the rising sea level once again isolated the islands. Great Britain was cut off from mainland Europe in around 8,200 BP by the Storegga Slide tsunami flooding Doggerland.[3]

Extinctions in Britain over the period have thus had three main causes:

  • Climate change as the ecosystem swung from temperate woodland and pasture, through open mammoth steppe to uninhabitable polar desert, and back.
  • Habitat loss brought about by human activities, such as the clearing of woodland or draining of marshland.
  • Hunting by humans.

It is important to remember that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence; the fossil record is always incomplete;[4] and many of the early dates are very approximate, since caves in Britain were often excavated before modern archaeological stratifications and dating techniques.[5][6]

Key

- A species that is globally extinct
* - A species that is known to have been introduced by humans and was never present by natural immigration.

Some animals have gone extinct several times and then recolonized. The date given is of the most recent extinction. Species that have been introduced or reintroduced by humans are noted.

Mammals

Common Name Species Order and Family Extinction/Extirpation Date Notes and References
Straight-tusked elephantPalaeoloxodon antiquusProboscidea: Elephantidaec. 115,000 BPLate Pleistocene [7][8][9][5]
Woolly mammothMammuthus primigeniusProboscidea: Elephantidaec. 14,500-14,000 BP[10]
Barbary macaqueMacaca sylvanusPrimates: Cercopithecidaec. 130,000 BP[5][6][11]
NeanderthalHomo neanderthalensisPrimates: Hominidaec. 50,000 BP[6][12]
Eurasian beaverCastor fiberRodentia: CastoridaeA.D. 1526reintroduced to Britain; never lived in Ireland
Arctic lemmingDicrostonyx torquatusRodentiac. 10,000 BP[5]
Steppe lemmingLagurus lagurusRodentiac. 8000 B.C
*CoypuMyocastor coypusRodentiaA.D. 1978Modern, introduced non-native
*Musk ratOndatra zibethicusRodentia1937non-native [13]
Narrow-headed voleMicrotus gregalisRodentiac. 8000 B.C.
Root voleMicrotus oeconomusRodentiac. 1500 B.C.
Steppe pikaOchotona pusillaLagomorphac. 8000 B.C.
Cave hyenaCrocuta crocuta spelaeaCarnivorac. 32,000 BP[5][14]
Arctic foxVulpes lagopusCarnivorac. 10,000 BP[5]
Cave bearUrsus spelaeusCarnivorac. 18,000 B.C.
Cave lionPanthera spelaeaCarnivorac. 32,000 BP[5]
Eurasian brown bearUrsus arctos arctosCarnivorac. AD 1000c. 1000–500 BC in Ireland
Polar bearUrsus maritimusCarnivorac. 18,000 BP[15]
Eurasian lynxLynx lynxCarnivorac. A.D. 400
Eurasian wolfCanis lupus lupusCarnivoraAD 17861166 Wales, 1390 England, 1680 Scotland, 1786 Ireland [16]
European Ice Age leopardPanthera pardus spelaeaCarnivorac. 24,000 B.C.Leopard-like creatures have been reported
Scimitar-toothed catHomotherium latidensCarnivorac. 26,000 B.C.[17]
WolverineGulo guloCarnivorac. 6000 B.C.
WalrusOdobenus rosmarusCarnivorac. 1000 B.C.occasional visitor [18]
Narrow-nosed rhinocerosStephanorhinus hemiotoechusPerissodactylac. 12,000 B.C
TarpanEquus ferus ferusPerissodactylac. 7000 B.C.re-established proxy [19]
European wild assEquus hemionus hydruntinusPerissodactylac. 300,000 B.C.
Woolly rhinocerosCoelodonta antiquitatisPerissodactylac. 10,000 B.C.
Gray whaleEschrichtius robustusArtiodactylac. 598 B.C.
European hippopotamusHippopotamus antiquusArtiodactylac. 135-114,000 BPIpswichian [5][20]
Irish elkMegaloceros giganteusArtiodactylac. 6000 B.C.
Eurasian elkAlces alcesArtiodactylac. A.D. 1300 [21]
ReindeerRangifer tarandusArtiodactylac. A.D. 1100 [22]reintroduced to Britain[23]
Saiga antelopeSaiga tataricaArtiodactylac. 10,000 B.C.
MuskoxOvibos moschatusArtiodactylac. unknown
Eurasian aurochsBos primigenius primigeniusArtiodactylac. 1000 B.C.
Steppe bisonBison priscusArtiodactylac. unknown[5]
†Bison schoetensacki (sister species of Wisent)[24]Bison schoetensackiArtiodactylaWisent reintroduction ongoing[25]
Wild boarSus scrofaArtiodactylac. 1400reintroduced to Britain[26]

Birds

Fish

Amphibians

Reptiles

Insects

Beetles

  • Agonum sahlbergi (ground beetle) – 1914
  • Blue stag beetle – 19th century
  • Graphoderus bilineatus (water beetle) – 1906
  • Harpalus honestus (ground beetle) – 1905
  • Horned dung beetle – 1957
  • Ochthebius aeneus (water beetle) – 1913
  • Platydema violaceum (tenebrionid) – 1957
  • Rhantus aberratus (water beetle) – 1904
  • Scybalicus oblongiusculus (ground beetle) – 1926
  • Teretrius fabricii (histerid) – 1907

Bees, wasps and ants

Flies

  • Merodon clavipes

Butterflies and moths

General reference: Waring et al., 2009.[41]

Dragonflies and damselflies

Caddisflies

  • Hydropsyche bulgaromanorum (caddis fly) – 1926
  • Hydropsyche exocellata (caddis fly) – 1901

Arachnids

Crustaceans

Land snails

Reintroduction and re-establishment

The white-tailed eagle has been successfully re-established on the western coast of Scotland.[46] Having clung on in parts of Wales,[47] red kites have been successfully re-established in parts of England and Scotland.[48] Ongoing projects involve both these species: the corn crake into parts of England and Scotland, and the great bustard on Salisbury Plain.

European beavers have been reintroduced to parts of Scotland, and there are plans to bring them back to other parts of Britain. A five-year trial reintroduction at Knapdale in Argyll started in 2009 and concluded in 2014.[49] A few hundred beavers live wild in the Tay river basin, as a result of escapes from a wildlife park.[50] A similar reintroduction trial is being undertaken on the river otter in Devon, England.[51] Also, around the country, beavers have been introduced into fenced reserves for many reasons including flood prevention.[52] In 2016, beavers were recognised as a British native species, and will be protected under law.[53]

In 2008, Eurasian elk were released into a fenced reserve on the Alladale Estate in the Highlands of Scotland. Reindeer were re-established in 1952; approximately 150–170 reindeer live around the Cairngorms region in Scotland.

Set up by the Wildwood Trust, Konik horses have been established across many reserves as a proxy for the extinct tarpan.[54]

In 1998, MAFF, now known as DEFRA released a report concerning the presence of two populations of wild boar living freely in the UK.[55] These boar are thought to have escaped from wildlife parks, zoos and from farms where they are farmed for their meat, and gone on to establish breeding populations.[56][57]

Around 20 white storks pass through the UK each year.[58] A colony at the Knepp Wildland in Sussex, aided by zoologist Roisin Campbell-Palmer, hopes to reinforce these off-path migrants by introducing adults into a fenced reserve, where the juveniles born will be able to establish other colonies further afield.[59]

The northern clade of the pool frog was reintroduced from Swedish stock in 2005, to a single site in Norfolk, England, following detailed research to prove that it had been native before its extinction around 1993.

Smaller species, mainly reptiles, such as the green lizard and Aesculapian snake, have formed colonies probably due to a result of release from captivity.[60]

The large blue butterfly has been successfully re-established from Swedish stock at several sites, but very few of these are open-access. There are also several successful cases of the establishment of new populations of heath fritillary.

There have been calls for the reintroduction of the Eurasian lynx, brown bear and grey wolf to the UK, because no large predators are living in viable populations in Great Britain. It is theorized that a large predators presence could create a trophic cascade,[61] thus improving the ecosystem.[62]

There are plans to reintroduce European bison into England in Spring 2022. The initial reintroduction would consist of one male and three females being released into a 150-hectare area with no accessible footpaths.[63]

See also

References

  1. "The making of an island". Natural History Museum.
  2. Stuart, A. J. (1995). "Insularity and Quaternary vertebrate faunas in Britain and Ireland". In Preece, R. C. (ed.). Island Britain: a Quaternary perspective. Geological Society Special Publication No. 96. pp. 111–125.
  3. "Bernhard Weninger et al., The catastrophic final flooding of Doggerland by the Storegga Slide tsunami, Documenta Praehistorica XXXV, 2008" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-11-01. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  4. Flannery, Tim (2018). Europe: The First 100 Million Years. Penguin UK. ISBN 978-0141989037.
  5. Yalden, D. (1999), History of British Mammals, London: T. & A.D. Poyser Ltd., ISBN 978-0-85661-110-0
  6. Kurten, Bjorn (1968). Plesitocene Mammals of Europe. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
  7. Gascoyne, M.; Currant, A. P.; Lord, T. C. (1981). "Ipswichian fauna of Victoria Cave and the marine palaeoclimatic record". Nature. 294 (5842): 652–654. Bibcode:1981Natur.294..652G. doi:10.1038/294652a0.
  8. Stuart, A. J. (1986). "Pleistocene occurrence of hippopotamus in Britain". Quartärpaläontologie. 6: 209–218.
  9. Lister, Adrian M. (2009). "Late-glacial mammoth skeletons (Mammuthus primigenius) from Condover (Shropshire, UK): anatomy, pathology, taphonomy and chronological significance". Geological Journal. 44 (4): 447–479. doi:10.1002/gj.1162.
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