The History of British MammalsAs ice retreated from Britain 15,000 years ago, a host of large mammals including reindeer, wild horses, wooly mammoths, moose, wolves, brown bears, lynxes and wolverines established itself in Britain. The largest surviving wild land mammal today, the red deer, the largest contemporary land carnivore, the badger and another 65 or so extant wild mammals included about a quarter of the wild mammals that have been introduced in the last 15,000 years. The contemporary fauna, however, is largely dominated by domestic animals, such as cattle, sheep, pigs and humans. This book explores the fate of the large extinct species, as well as how, why, and when the introduced species appeared. |
Contents
Introduction | |
And the Land Was Covered in | |
The Beginning of History | |
Warming Up Nicely 4 Clearing the Woodlands | |
The Saxon Angle 6 Hunting and Harassment 7 Restoring Some Balance | |
Island Races | |
The Twentieth Century and Beyond | |
References | |
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Common terms and phrases
abundant andthe AngloSaxon animal bones antlers Arctic Aurochs Badger Bank Vole bats Beaver Britain British mammals Brown Bear cattle Cave century CluttonBrock Cromerian dates Derbyshire Devensian Devensian Devensian distribution domestic Dryas England Europe evidence Excavations extinct Fallow Deer Field Voles Figure Forest fossil Grey Grigson habitat hunting Hyaena I929 Reynolds inBritain Interglacial inthe Ipswichian Ireland Irish Irish Elk Iron Age islands Isles landbridge lemmings London mammal fauna Mammal Review mammals Mammoth Mediaeval Mesolithic Microtus Mountain Hares Mouse Neolithic Neolithic Neolithic Noddle Norfolk North numbers ofthe Orkney Otter Oxford Park period Pine Marten placenames Pleistocene Polecat pollen population Post Glacial predators present Rabbits Rackham Radiocarbon record Red Deer Red Squirrel Reindeer Reynolds 1939 Reynolds Reynolds I929 rodents Roe Deer Roman Saxon Scotland sealevel sheep Shrew small mammals Somerset southern species specimens survived Tarpan thatthe tothe ungulates Water Voles Wild Boar Wolves woodland Woodman Woolly Yalden Yorkshire Younger Dryas