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Animals that are found in Britain but not in Ireland

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Comments

  • #32
    Sea Monkey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12 ✭Sea Monkey


    I believe the Deep Sea Badger is occasionally sighted in British waters, but has never been recorded from Ireland.

    That's pretty strange when you consider the relative proximities of the two countries to true oceanic habitats. Maybe observer awareness and coverage is a factor?.


  • #33
    meathstevie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,778 ✭✭✭meathstevie


    leopardus wrote: »
    The greater white-toothed shrew isn't found on mainland U.K. but is found on some of the offshore islands Guernsey, Alderney and Herm.

    The Eurasian beaver is indeed originally native to the U.K. and there are some captive beavers in the U.K. in semi-natural enviornments, a reintroduction scheme is being talked about; but it hasn't been authorized yet though.
    Canadian beavers have escaped from zoological collections in the U.K. on a number of occasions and were free ranging for some time.

    wild boar (feral animals escaped from farms, now present in Dorset, Kent and Herefordshire)
    Reeves muntjac (recently recorded in Ireland if I remeber correctly?)
    Red deer*
    Sika deer*
    Fallow deer*
    Roe deer (were present in Ireland from 1860'6- early 20th Century)
    Chinese water deer

    The book is available from 'The Mammal Society' (in the U.K.) it's expensive (£70) but really worth it if you have an interest in mammals. It's edited by Derek Yalden and S.Harris.http://www.abdn.ac.uk/mammal/publics.shtml


    Saw a picture of UK Wild Boar in the current issue of Sporting Rifle magazine.
    Those lads aren't escaped farm pigs but the genuine article. Could be that the originals are farm escapees but they are genuine Wild Boar.


  • #34
    Alun
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 21,537 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    meathstevie wrote: »
    Saw a picture of UK Wild Boar in the current issue of Sporting Rifle magazine.
    Those lads aren't escaped farm pigs but the genuine article. Could be that the originals are farm escapees but they are genuine Wild Boar.
    There are quite a few wild boar "farms" in the UK supplying meat, so it's quite likely a few escaped from there. I'm not 100% sure, but I think the native (to the UK, that is) wild boar were hunted to destruction a long time ago, and that most of the stock used on these farms has been imported from areas in central Europe where they still roam in a truly wild state.

    There are still semi-wild / feral pig populations in some areas in England such as the New Forest and also the Forest of Dean I believe. I've seen them myself in the New Forest foraging for acorns in the autumn.


  • #35
    TREVOR H
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18 ✭TREVOR H


    Can't remember where, maybe bbc wildlife mag, but I read that some of the 'Wild Boar' in England were hybrids with domestic pig breeds.(Wild Boar are classed as dangerous wild animals in the U.K., requiring expensive fencing etc. Hybrids were a way to bend the rules a little.) If so it must be only a small % as any pictures I've seen apear to look like the real thing. They were filmed on BBC springwatch earlier in the year.
    Here's a link to a site I found explaining about genetic purity, http://www.britishwildboar.org.uk/purity1.htm
    There were rumors of Wild Boar in Wicklow earlier in the year. Haven't heard anymore since.
    They are extinct from Ireland since the 17th century. Many place names have references to them. Anywhere with Muck or Torc in the name is a reference.


  • #36
    meathstevie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,778 ✭✭✭meathstevie


    Alun wrote: »
    There are quite a few wild boar "farms" in the UK supplying meat, so it's quite likely a few escaped from there. I'm not 100% sure, but I think the native (to the UK, that is) wild boar were hunted to destruction a long time ago, and that most of the stock used on these farms has been imported from areas in central Europe where they still roam in a truly wild state.

    There are still semi-wild / feral pig populations in some areas in England such as the New Forest and also the Forest of Dean I believe. I've seen them myself in the New Forest foraging for acorns in the autumn.

    You don't have to go as far as Central Europe Alun. Regions like the Ardennes, eiffel, Elzas, Veluwe etc has them plenty. And that's no further than Holland, Belgium and France.


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