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Mammal fact files

Click on the animal names below the pictures to learn more about the mammals that live in the United Kingdom.

Estimates of population sizes are taken from the Mammal Society’s 2018  report, ‘A Review of the Population and Conservation Status of British Mammals: Technical Summary’. There are eleven mammal species (either native or naturalised) that are at risk of extinction in Britain in the near future (within the next decade or three generations). These ‘Threatened’ species  are classified as: Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), and Vulnerable (VU). Four others are ‘Near Threatened’ (NT).

  • Whales and dolphins

    These marine mammals breathe air and are adapted to life in the water.

  • Seals

    This group of mammals is suited to living in the water and on land.

  • Marsupials

    Meaning 'pouched-one' only one type is found in the UK.

  • Rabbits and hares

    These mammals are herbivores (plant eaters). There are three types in the UK.

  • Hedgehog by water by Oliver Wilks

    Shrews, moles and hedgehogs

    Small, mostly nocturnal mammals that feed mainly on insects and are known as insectivores.

  • Carnivores

    Predators with teeth adapted to eat meat. Nine species live in the UK and another three are now extinct.

  • Deer and wild boar

    These large plant eating mammals walk on two-hoofed toes.

  • Bats

    18 species make up a third of all wild mammals in Britain. Bats are our the only truly flying mammals.

  • Rodents

    Mammals with special gnawing front teeth, of which there are 15 species in Britain.

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