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).
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Whales and dolphins
These marine mammals breathe air and are adapted to life in the water.
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Seals
This group of mammals is suited to living in the water and on land.
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Marsupials
Meaning 'pouched-one' only one type is found in the UK.
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Rabbits and hares
These mammals are herbivores (plant eaters). There are three types in the UK.
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Shrews, moles and hedgehogs
Small, mostly nocturnal mammals that feed mainly on insects and are known as insectivores.
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Carnivores
Predators with teeth adapted to eat meat. Nine species live in the UK and another three are now extinct.
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Deer and wild boar
These large plant eating mammals walk on two-hoofed toes.
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Bats
18 species make up a third of all wild mammals in Britain. Bats are our the only truly flying mammals.
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Rodents
Mammals with special gnawing front teeth, of which there are 15 species in Britain.