Animals in Great Britain

1. Animals in Great Britain

2. Animals in Great Britain • Animals in Great Britain can be split in to two categories; domestic and wild. • There is a large variety of wild animals in the UK because of the varied landscape. • Most of them are small animals and like many islands there are a lot of different bird species. • In Great Britain there are no really dangerous animals.

3. Domestic Animals • More than 50% of British families have a pet. • The most common pets in Britain are dogs, cats, goldfish, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs and budgies. • It is estimated that 7.7 million cats, 6.6 million dogs and 18 million goldfish are kept as pets in Great Britain. • Some people now keep exotic pets like snakes, lizards and spiders.

4. Wild Animals • Great Britain has many varieties of mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds and insects. • Many of Britain’s animal species are not native and have been introduced either purposely or accidentally. • Rabbits were not native to Great Britain but were introduced when the Normans conquered. • Grey Squirrels were also not native and were introduced from America. This is however bad because they have taken over the habitats of Britain’s native red squirrels.

6. Mammals • England doesn't have many large mammals and is mainly populated by smaller mammals. • The largest land animals and mammals in Britain are deer species. • The Red Deer is Britain’s largest land mammal and found in a few areas such as the Lake District and Exmoor. • Other smaller species of deer can also be found in Britain.

8. Other common mammals are hedgehogs, moles, shrews, bats, badgers, rats and mice. • Some mammals such as foxes and rats are increasingly urban and now always found in large cities away from their natural habitat. • Britain also has some endangered mammals such as dormice, voles and the Exmoor and Dartmoor ponies. • There are now only 800 Exmoor ponies left and the Dartmoor breed is decreasing.

10. Sea Animals • As Britain is an island it has many coastal waters. • In these waters live a variety of sea mammals. • These include dolphins, whales and seals. • The coast of Cornwall is often visited by Basking Sharks. • Although it is a huge fish, the Basking Shark is a harmless shark which eats algae.

12. Amphibians • Britain doesn’t have many amphibian species. • It has varieties of newts, toads and frogs. • The species of amphibian that are most common in Britain are the Great Crested Newt, Smooth Newt, Palmate Newt, Common Toad, Natterjack Toad, Common Frog and the Pool Frog.

14. Reptiles • In Britain you can find snakes, lizards, turtles and terrapins. • Britain only has one poisonous snake which is the Adder. It is not very dangerous. • Many lizards have been introduced to Britain from other countries such as the Wall Lizard and Green Lizard. • Terrapins have also been introduced. • Turtles are increasingly seen in British seas due to global warming.

16. Birds • Britain has nearly 600 bird species and bird-watching is a very popular past time. • Some of the most common are species of swans and ducks and sparrows and blackbirds. • Some which are less common are herons, storks, eagles, falcons, kestrels, owls and cuckoos. • It is illegal to kill swans in Great Britain as they are owned by the Queen.

18. Insects • Britain has many insect varieties but none of these are poisonous. The most harmful are wasps and bees which can sting. • There are many species of butterflies and moths in Britain although many are now endangered. • There also many crickets and grasshoppers.