page_title: Fauna of Scotland
section_title: Extinctions and reintroductions
hierarchical_section_title: Fauna of Scotland / Mammals / Extinctions and reintroductions
caption_attribution_description: English: A European Beaver in Norway.
context_page_description: The fauna of Scotland is generally typical of the northwest European part of the Palearctic realm, although several of the country's larger mammals were hunted to extinction in historic times and human activity has also led to various species of wildlife being introduced. Scotland's diverse temperate environments support 62 species of wild mammals, including a population of wild cats, important numbers of grey and harbour seals and the most northerly colony of bottlenose dolphins in the world.
  Many populations of moorland birds, including the black and red grouse live here, and the country has internationally significant nesting grounds for seabirds such as the northern gannet. The golden eagle has become a national icon, and white-tailed eagles and ospreys have recently re-colonised the land. The Scottish crossbill is the only endemic vertebrate species in the UK.
  Scotland's seas are among the most biologically productive in the world; it is estimated that the total number of Scottish marine species exceeds 40,000. The Darwin Mounds are an important area of deep sea cold water coral reefs discovered in 1998.
context_section_description: During the Pleistocene interglacials, arctic animals that are no longer extant occupied Scotland, including the woolly rhinoceros, mammoth, polar bear, lemming, Arctic fox and the giant deer Megaloceros giganteus. Other mammals that used to inhabit Scotland but became extinct in the wild during historic times include the Eurasian lynx, which lived in Britain until 1,500 years ago, the European brown bear, subspecies Ursus arctos caledoniensis, which was taken to entertain the Roman circuses but died out in the 9th or 10th century, and the elk, which lasted until about 1300. The wild boar and wild ox or urus died out in the subsequent two centuries, although the former's domesticated cousin, the grice, lasted until 1930 in Shetland. The last known wolf was shot on Mackintosh land in Inverness-shire in 1743, and the walrus is now only an occasional vagrant. St Kilda also possessed an endemic subspecies of the house mouse, Mus musculus muralis, which was longer, hairier, coloured differently and had a skull shape at variance to the norm. It became extinct in 1938, just eight years after the evacuation of the native St Kildans.
  A joint project of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, the Scottish Wildlife Trust and Forestry Commission Scotland have successfully re-introduced the European beaver to the wild in Scotland using Norwegian stock. The species was found in the Highlands until the 15th century, and although the then Scottish Government initially rejected the idea, a trial commenced in May 2009 in Knapdale. Separately, on Tayside, deliberate releases or escapes have led to up to 250 animals colonising the area. Although it was initially planned to remove these unofficially reintroduced beavers, in March 2012 the Scottish Government reversed the decision to remove beavers from the Tay, pending the outcome of studies into the suitability of re-introduction. Following receipt of the results of the studies, in November 2016 the Scottish Government announced that beavers could remain permanently, and would be given protected status as a native species within Scotland. Beavers will be allowed to extend their range naturally from Knapdale and along the River Tay, however to aid this process and improve the health and resilience of the population a further 28 beavers will be released in Knapdale between 2017 and 2020.
  By means of escapes or deliberate releases, wild boar (Sus scrofa) have been re-introduced to several places in Scotland including a wide area of Lochaber and West Inverness-shire. Various other schemes are under consideration. For example, the owner of the Alladale estate north of Inverness has expressed a desire to reintroduce wolves as part of a wilderness reserve, the first of its kind in Britain.
caption: The European or Eurasian beaver, (Castor fiber)
exif: {}