What Once Roamed Our Lands

In the modern world we see Ireland as largely agricultural, human dominated and lacking the biodiversity that is seen across mainland Europe and North America, many of which share out latitude and climatic conditions, yet we no longer share their incredible range of fauna. This wasn’t always the case, Ireland was previously a frontier for wilderness, with giant forests and a range of animals that could easily rival places such as Scandinavia. Much of our wildlife only remains locally extinct and in some cases there may even be potential for rewilding. However, some of these animals may not be the best neighbours.

The Irish Elk

A Preserved example from the Ice age. It can be characterised by it's sheer size and the span of it's antlers.

The giant Irish deer was one of the most striking animals to have gone extinct in Ireland, while I have used the common name, I want to make clear that it was not unique to Ireland nor was it even an elk. This animal could be found in many places across Europe and even into Asia. The reason it is so commonly associated with Ireland is actually because of how many we have preserved inside our peatlands.

This enormous animal stood 2 meters tall just at the shoulder and it’s antlers could reach a total of 3.5m across. From fossils scientists have been able to distinguish it’s main habitat is in more open landscapes in comparison to dense forests. Imagine trying to navigate between trees with those antlers!

Unfortunately, we don’t know how many there were, the best we can guess is up to tens of thousands (very precise I know…) This would only occur during particularly favourable climates and is really only an estimate based on the ecological indicators we have. At the minute we can see that they disappeared from Ireland roughly 10,000-12,000 years ago, this is likely due to rapid climate change at the end of the Ice Age. The changing environment left them with lowered food availability and unfortunately, they died out.

Grey Wolves

Ireland actually used to be referred to as 'the land of the wolves' in classic literature!

This example is certainly not extinct around the world, and even though it disappeared in the late 18^th century they remain one of Ireland’s most famous lost predators. These animals were so strongly tied to Ireland that they are commonly referred to in literature from this period.

As mentioned, they are estimated to have disappeared between 1770 and 1786, but at one point there was about 1,000 wolves on the island. This would have went through regular fluctuations however it a commonly discussed estimate and it helps us understand the spread of this species. Unfortunately, we are to be blamed for the loss of the wolf. Wolves were hunted due to them killing many forms of our livestock with sheep being the common target, at one point there were even bounties placed on wolves to eradicate them.

The great Auk

Unfortunately the Great Auk is extinct so we thought e would share the classic penguin. Great Auks shared many of the penguins markings while not being related!

Now this is one I hadn’t even heard of before I started researching this topic. This was a large and flightless bird native to the North Atlantic. The best description that can be given is that it looked somewhat like a penguin, however, it is not related to the animals we see today that occupy the southern hemisphere. Unfortunately, one of the reasons I had not heard of this animal until now is that it is extinct across the globe, not just in Ireland.

While I do not have data for it’s population in Ireland, it is believed to have been in the millions across the North Atlantic. The last known great Auks were killed on an island called Eldey that is off the coast of Iceland. These birds were killed in 1844, marking the end of the species.

This is another animal that are extinct by human doing. This bird was hunted for it’s meat, oils, skins, eggs and even feathers. It was incredibly vulnerable due to it’s inability to fly and it had to come ashore to breed. Yet another species condemned to history.

The Eurasian Lynx

All of these individuals will soon go off and live solitary lives...

This is an animal that is still seen across the world and has even been discussed for potential reintroduction. It’s presence in Ireland is certainly less famous that that of the wolf, matching the elusive nature of the Lynx. I say this because the evidence for them being here is much thinner, there is however a fossil that dates the lynx as being here 9,000 years ago.

Sticking to it’s nature we have practically no idea how many would have lived here; they live a solitary life and need large territories. If there was ever a well-established population it would be unlikely that Ireland could support more than a few hundred.

This is an animal, that in Ireland, we know very little about. We do not know how many there were, we don’t have many fossils to examine, and we don’t know when they disappeared! We can assume, based on fossil data, that they went extinct right around the early Holocene. All we can assume about the reason it did eventually go extinct is due to changes in the woodlands, prey availability and if we are correct in assuming they were here during the early Holocene, it would not be a crazy assumption that humans probably hunted them.

Brown Bears

We even could have had these cute little guys roaming Ireland!

Surprisingly, we even had brown bears! They once roamed the island alongside wolves and potentially even the lynx. There is a few examples that date them as being here over 10,000 years ago, this is actually based off of a butchered bear bone: highlighting human interactions with bears during this time.

The brown bear is estimated to have gone extinct ~3000 years ago but we cannot be certain of any exact date. This is yet another animal that makes it difficult to estimate it’s total population. They roam massive expanses of land and with Ireland being a relatively small island it’s hard to imagine an enormous population. Some ecological guesses put it into the high hundreds, maybe even into 1000 specimens if conditions are perfect. However, we cannot be certain of that estimate, and it is much less certain than other estimates on this list.

This is a large animal that doesn’t quite fit the Ireland we know today, as mentioned they went extinct around 3000 years ago and it is more than likely that they were hunted and negatively impacted by forest clearing and the expansion of agriculture. There simply wasn’t enough room for both humans and bears on this island.

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