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 the listed species 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/Eemian interglacial (c. 130,000 - c. 115,000 before present (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 a biome favoured by woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius).^[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 elephant	Palaeoloxodon antiquus	Proboscidea: Elephantidae	c. 115,000 BP	Present during the Eemian interglacial,^[7]^[8]^[5] survived elsewhere in Europe until around 40-30,000 years ago.
†Narrow-nosed rhinoceros	Stephanorhinus hemitoechus	Perissodactyla	c. 115,000 BP	Present during the Eemian interglacial,^[9] survived elsewhere in Europe until around 40-30,000 years ago.
Hippopotamus	Hippopotamus amphibius	Artiodactyla	c. 115,000 BP	Present during the Eemian/Ipswitchian interglacial^[5]^[10]
†Woolly mammoth	Mammuthus primigenius	Proboscidea: Elephantidae	c. 14,500-14,000 BP	^[11]
†Woolly rhinoceros	Coelodonta antiquitatis	Perissodactyla	c. 35,000 BP^[12]	Survived elsewhere until at least 14,000 years ago
†Neanderthal	Homo neanderthalensis	Primates: Hominidae	c. 50,000 BP	Have left some genetic traces in modern humans.^[6]^[13]
†Irish elk	Megaloceros giganteus	Artiodactyla	c. 12,000 BP^[14]
†Cave hyena	Crocuta crocuta spelaea	Carnivora	c. 32,000 BP	Present in both Britain and Ireland.^[5]^[15]
†Cave lion	Panthera spelaea	Carnivora	c. 40,000 BP	Survived elsewhere until 14-13,000 years ago.^[16]
†Scimitar-toothed cat	Homotherium latidens	Carnivora	c. 28,000 BP	Only unambiguous Late Pleistocene remains are a single specimen from the southern North Sea dating to c. 28,000 years ago.^[17]
†European Ice Age leopard	Panthera pardus spelaea	Carnivora	c. 32,000 BP	^[5]
†Steppe bison	Bison priscus	Artiodactyla	c. 28,000 BP^[18]
Eurasian beaver	Castor fiber	Rodentia: Castoridae	1526	Reintroduced to Britain;^[19]^[20] never known to have lived in Ireland^[21]
Arctic lemming	Dicrostonyx torquatus	Rodentia	c. 10,000 BP	^[5]
Steppe lemming	Lagurus lagurus	Rodentia	c. 10,000 BP
*Coypu	Myocastor coypus	Rodentia	1978	Modern, introduced non-native; eradicated in Britain in 1978,^{[citation needed]} introduced to Ireland in 2010.^{[citation needed]}
*Muskrat	Ondatra zibethicus	Rodentia	1937	Introduced, non-native; eradicated in 1937.^[22]
Narrow-headed vole	Microtus gregalis	Rodentia	c. 10,000 BP
Root vole	Microtus oeconomus	Rodentia	c. 1,500 BC
Steppe pika	Ochotona pusilla	Lagomorpha	c. 10,000 BP
Arctic fox	Vulpes lagopus	Carnivora	c. 10,000 BP	^[5]
Brown bear	Ursus arctos	Carnivora	c. 500 ^[23]	c. 1000 – 500 BC in Ireland;^[24] see Bears in Ireland
Polar bear	Ursus maritimus	Carnivora	c. 18,000 BP	^[25]
Eurasian lynx	Lynx lynx	Carnivora	c. 700 ^[26] or c. 1760^[27]	Subfossil evidence suggests an early medieval extinction, but a written record indicates persistence in Scotland into the late 18th century.^[27]
Grey wolf	Canis lupus	Carnivora	1786/1888	1166/1888 in Wales, 1390/1888 in England, 1680/1888 in Scotland/Britain, 1786/1888 in Ireland;^[28] see Wolves in Great Britain and Wolves in Ireland
Wolverine	Gulo gulo	Carnivora	c. 11,000 BP^[29]
Walrus	Odobenus rosmarus	Carnivora	c. 1000 BC	Extirpated as a breeder; occasional vagrant^[30]
Greater mouse-eared bat	Myotis myotis	Chiroptera	1990	A solitary male is known from a single hibernation site in Sussex, but the species is effectively extirpated.^[31]
Wild horse	Equus ferus ferus	Perissodactyla	c. 10,000 BP^[32]	Re-established proxy in the form of free-roaming domestic horses^[33]
Gray whale	Eschrichtius robustus	Artiodactyla	c. 598 BC
Moose/elk	Alces alces	Artiodactyla	c. 5600 BP^[34]
*Siberian roe deer	Capreolus pygargus	Artiodactyla	1945	Non-native, introduced in England from escapees in early 20th century; exterminated by 1945^[35]^[36]
Reindeer	Rangifer tarandus	Artiodactyla	c. 11,000 BP^[37]	Extirpated in Ireland c. 7500 BC.^[38]^[39]^[40]
Saiga antelope	Saiga tatarica	Artiodactyla	c. 12,000 BP^[18]
Muskox	Ovibos moschatus	Artiodactyla	prior to 12000 BP^[41]^[18]
†Aurochs	Bos primigenius primigenius	Artiodactyla	c. 1000 BC	Select breeds of free-roaming domestic cattle are used as an ecological proxy as part of some conservation grazing initiatives.^[42]
Wild boar	Sus scrofa	Artiodactyla	c. 1400	Reintroduced to Britain,^[43] extirpated from Ireland.^[44]

Birds

Common crane – late medieval period (re-established)
Dalmatian pelican – c. 5000 BP^[45]
Gadfly petrel (unknown Pterodroma species, presumed Fea's petrel) – Iron Age^[46]
Eurasian spoonbill – 17th century (as a breeding bird) (re-established)^[47]
†Great auk – 1844
Great bustard – 19th century (reintroduced)
Kentish plover – 20th century (last breeding record 1979)^[48]
Little egret – late medieval period (re-established)
Pied avocet – 19th century (re-established)
Red-backed shrike – 1989 (as a regular breeding bird)
Western capercaillie – 1780s (reintroduced)
Hazel grouse – Last Glacial Period and only found in South West England
White stork – 1416 (reintroduced)^[49]
Wryneck (as a regular breeding bird)
White-tailed eagle – 1916 (reintroduction projects underway)
Lanner falcon - 1236–1300 (change of climate)^{[citation needed]}
Western marsh harrier – late 19th century (re-established)
Northern goshawk – late 19th century (re-established)
Red kite - 1870s (England), 1886 (Scotland); reintroduced
Osprey – 1916 (re-established)
Eurasian eagle owl - c. 10000 BP (re-established)^[50]

Fish

Burbot – A fisherman caught the last recorded burbot in July 1970 from the Great Ouse Relief Channel, Norfolk.^{[citation needed]} The species was then presumed extirpated.
†Houting – In the UK, the houting was declared extinct in 1977 by D. A. Ratcliffe. It was last recorded in the UK from the River Colne, West Yorkshire in 1925.^{[citation needed]}

Amphibians

Agile frog – c. 1000, possibly 1500^[51]^[52]^[53] present on Jersey
European tree frog – 1986^[51]^[54]
Moor frog – c. 1000, possibly 1500^[51]^[52]^[55]
Pool frog – 1999^[56] (reintroduced)^[57]

Reptiles

Aesculapian snake – c. Atlantic period >3000 BC^[58] (escaped populations in London and North Wales)
European pond turtle – ≤ 3000 BC, currently being reintroduced by Celtic Rewilding
Western green lizard – c. unknown^[59] (escaped populations in Bournemouth); present on Jersey and Guernsey

Insects

Beetles

Agonum sahlbergi (ground beetle) – 1914
Platycerus caraboides (blue stag beetle) – 19th century
Graphoderus bilineatus (water beetle) – 1906
Harpalus honestus (ground beetle) – 1905
Copris lunaris (horned dung beetle) – 1974
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

Andrena polita (mining bee) – 1934
Bombus pomorum (apple bumblebee) – 1864^[60]
Bombus cullumanus (Cullum's bumblebee) – 1941^[60]
Eucera tuberculata (mining bee) – 1941
Halictus maculatus (mining bee) – 1930
Mellinus crabroneus (digger wasp) – c. 1950
Odynerus reniformis (mason wasp) – 1915
Odynerus simillimus (mason wasp) – 1905
Bombus subterraneus (short-haired bumblebee) – 1989^[60]

Flies

Poecilobothrus majesticus – after 1907^[61]

Butterflies and moths

General reference: Waring et al., 2009.^[62]

Aporia crataegi, black-veined white – 1925
Borkhausenia minutella – 1950
Lithophane furcifera, conformist (moth) –
Euclemensia woodiella (moth) – 1829
Flame brocade (moth) – 1919
Frosted yellow (moth) – 1914
Gypsy moth – 1907; reappeared 1995^[63]
Isle of Wight wave (moth) – 1931
Large chequered skipper – c. 1989 (non-native, Channel Islands)
Large copper – 1865
Large tortoiseshell - 1960s (recolonising from 2019)^[64]
Many-lined (moth) – 1875
Map – c. 1914 (non-native)
Mazarine blue – 1906
Orache moth – 1915
Reed tussock (moth) – 1875
Scarce black arches (moth) – 1898 (transitory resident)
Speckled beauty (moth) – 1898
Union rustic (moth) – 1919
Viper's bugloss (moth) – 1969^[65]

Dragonflies and damselflies

Norfolk damselfly – 1957
Orange-spotted emerald (dragonfly) – 1957

Caddisflies

Hydropsyche bulgaromanorum (caddis fly) – 1926
Hydropsyche exocellata (caddis fly) – 1901^{[citation needed]}

Cicada

Cicadetta montana (New Forest cicada) – not seen in Britain since 2000.^{[citation needed]}

Arachnids

Crustaceans

Artemia salina (brine shrimp) – after 1758^[66]^[67]

Molluscs

Land snails

Reintroduction and re-establishment

The white-tailed eagle has been successfully re-established on the western coast of Scotland.^[68] Having clung on in parts of Wales,^[69] red kites have been successfully re-established in parts of England and Scotland.^[70] 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.^[71] A few hundred beavers live wild in the Tay river basin, as a result of escapes from a wildlife park.^[72] A similar reintroduction trial is being undertaken on the river otter in Devon, England.^[73] Also, around the country, beavers have been introduced into fenced reserves for many reasons including flood prevention.^[74] In 2016, beavers were recognised as a British native species, and will be protected under law.^[75]

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.^[76]

In 1998, MAFF, now known as DEFRA released a report concerning the presence of two populations of wild boar living freely in the UK.^[77] 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.^[78]^[79]

Around 20 white storks pass through the UK each year.^[80] A colony at the Knepp Wildland in West 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.^[81]

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.^[82] There have also been calls for the return of the European tree frog to the wild.^[83]

Established in 2020, Celtic Reptile & Amphibian, aims to reintroduce the lost species of reptile and amphibian that once inhabited Britain, back to rewilding projects.^[84] These include the moor frog, European tree frog, agile frog and European pond turtle.^[85] They have already had significant success breeding the moor frog in captivity.^[86]^[87] The organisation also wants to see European pond turtles re-established within wetland restoration projects.^[88]

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,^[89] thus improving the ecosystem.^[90]

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.^[91]

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