Endangered Animals of Great Britain. Form 6-7

1. Endangered Animals of Great Britain

Form 6-7

2. The wildcat

The wildcat (Felis silvestris) is
a small cat native to Europe,
the western part of Asia,
and Africa.
It is a hunter of small
mammals, birds, and other
creatures of a similar or
smaller size. There are several
subspecies distributed in
different regions of the world.

3.

Wild species are pale yellow to
medium-brown with black stripes
or spots. The underparts are light
grey, and sometimes marked with
black spots.
Wildcats range from 45 to 80
centimetres (18 to 31 in) in length,
and weigh between 3 and 6
kilograms (6.6 and 13 lb).

4.

The wildcat’s food is insects, small
mammals, rabbits, lizards, birds, fish,
weasels, scorpions, and even young roe
deer or antelopes.
It lives in solitude and holds a territory of
anything from 1.5 to 12 square kilometres
(0.58 to 4.6 sq mi), depending on the
local environment.
The mother wild cat has from one to five
kittens. The kittens weigh between 75 and
150 grams at birth, and are blind and
helpless. The eyes open after seven to
twelve days, and they begin to hunt live
at ten to twelve weeks of age.
Wildcats live up to sixteen years in captivity.

5. The Long-eared Owl

The Long-eared Owl (Asio otus) is
a species of owl which breeds in
Europe, Asia, and North America.
The Long-eared Owl is a medium
sized owl, 31–37 cm (12-15 in) in
length with an 86–98 cm (34-39
in) wingspan.
It has blackish ear-tufts in the
center of the head. The ear-tufts
are used to make the owl appear
larger to other owls while perched.
The female is larger in size and
darker in coloration than the male.
The Long-eared Owl’s brownish
feathers are vertically streaked.

6.

This bird is partially migratory,
moving south in winter from the
northern parts of its temperate
range.
It nests in trees, often coniferous,
using the old stick nests of other
birds such as crows, ravens.
The average clutch size is 4-6 eggs,
and the incubation time averages
from 25–30 days.
Its food is mainly rodents, small
mammals, and birds.

7. The Marsh Fritillary

The Marsh Fritillary (Euphydryas
aurinia) is a butterfly. It is
widespread from Ireland in the
West to Yakutia in the.
It is more frequent in the south and
west of the British Isles.
The adult butterflies are gold and
brown with a black background.
The underside of the wings is
patterned with yellow orange and
black without any silver coloration
at all.

8.

The main food plant of the Marsh Fritillary
is the Devil's bit scabious, Succisa pratensis,
but can also include the field scabious
Knautia arvensis and the small scabious
Scabiosa columbaria.
The eggs are laid in groups on the underside
of the leaves in May and June. Up to 350 are
laid in a single batch. They turn from pale
yellow when first laid, turn bright yellow,
then crimson, and finally to dark grey just
prior to hatching.
The Marsh Fritillary is protected under
British Law. It is listed under Schedule 5 of
the Wildlife and Countryside Act, also the
EU Habitats and Species Directive .

9. Bumblebees

A bumblebee (also spelled as bumble
bee) is any member of the bee genus
Bombus, in the family Apidae. There are
over 250 known species.
Bumblebees have black and yellow body
hairs, often in bands. Some species have
orange or red on their bodies, or may be
entirely black.
Like their relatives the honey bees,
bumblebees feed on nectar and gather
pollen to feed their young.
Bumblebees form colonies. These
colonies are usually much less extensive
than those of honey bees.

10. Bumblebees visit flowers exhibiting the bee pollination syndrome. They can visit patches of flowers up to 1–2 kilometres from

their colony.
Bumblebees can reach ground speeds of
up to 15 metres per second (54 km/h).
When bumblebees arrive at a flower,
they get nectar using their long tongue.
Many species of bumblebee also exhibit
what is known as "nectar robbing“ .

11.

Bumblebees are in
danger in many
developed countries
due to habitat
destruction and
collateral pesticide
damage.

12. Red Squirrel

The red squirrel or Eurasian red squirrel
(Sciurus vulgaris) is a species of tree
squirrel. In Great Britain and Ireland,
numbers of the red squirrel have decreased
drastically in recent years.
The red squirrel has a typical head-andbody length of 19 to 23 cm , a tail length of
15 to 20 cm and a mass of 250 to 340 g.
The coat of the red squirrel varies in colour
with time of year and location. There are
several different coat colour morphs
ranging from black to red. Red coats are
most common in Great Britain.
The red squirrel sheds its coat twice a year.

13.

Its strong hind legs enable it to leap
gaps between trees.
The red squirrel also has the ability to
swim. The red squirrel eats seeds of
trees, nuts (especially hazelnuts but
also beech and chestnuts), berries,
young shoots and meat such as bird
eggs are also eaten.
The red squirrel is protected in most
of Europe, as it is listed in Appendix
III of the Bern Convention; it is listed
as Least Concern on the IUCN Red
List. In some areas it is abundant and
is hunted for its fur.

14. Water Vole

The European Water Vole (Arvicola amphibius,
formerly A. terrestris) is a semi-aquatic rodent. It
is often informally called the water rat or ratty.
Water voles have rounder noses than rats, deep
brown fur, chubby faces and short fuzzy ears;
unlike rats their tails, paws and ears are covered
with hair.
Water voles reach 140–220 millimetres in length
plus a tail of 55–70 millimetres of this. Adults
weigh from 160–350 grams .
In the wild, they live for 2 years on average; most
do not survive a second winter.
In Britain, water voles live in burrows excavated
within the banks of rivers, ditches, ponds, and
streams. They also live in reed beds .

15.

Water voles mainly eat grass and plants
near the water. They like fruits, bulbs,
twigs, buds, and roots.
The water vole population in the UK has
fallen from pre-1960 level of around 8
million to 2.3 million in 1990 and to
354,000 in 1998.
On 26 February 2008, the UK Government
announced full legal protection for water
voles. Across the UK the Wildlife Trusts
and other organizations are undertaking
many practical projects to conserve and
restore water vole populations.
There are also indications that the water
vole is increasing in numbers in UK areas.

16.

List of endangered species in the British Isles
European Hare
European Otter
Bottlenose dolphin
Hazel Dormouse

17.

Western Capercaillie
Corn Crake
Grey Partridge
Red-backed Shrike
Skylark

18.

Sand Lizard
Anguis fragilis
Grass Snake (Natrix natrix)

19. Источники:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombus
http://www.stormfront.org/forum/t507120/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-eared_Owl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Long-eared_owl.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Squirrel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_water_vole
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottlenose_Dolphin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Hare
ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Otter