Ireland is home to over 20 land mammals, ten bats, two seals and over 20 whale and dolphin species. Our ecological history includes extinct mammals such as the Giant Irish Deer, Lemming, Arctic Fox, Reindeer, Spotted Hyena, Brown Bear, Grey Wolf, and Woolly Mammoth. Our current list of mammalian inhabitants includes such small creatures as the Pygmy Shrew, and larger terrestrial mammals such as the Red Deer. Our current combination of wildlife is the result of many factors, including our latitude, isolation from continental Europe and some 9,000 years of habitation by man.
The Irish stoat has been found here for at least 35,000 years and is sufficiently different to stoats elsewhere so as to be considered a unique Irish subspecies. Bones from the Irish mountain hare found in Waterford date back 28,000 years and again it is a subspecies unique to Ireland.
The Otter is another of our oldest residents and has been found here for at least 10,000 years. The Eurasian otter has become extinct in much of Europe due to hunting, habitat destruction and pollution, so there must be an impetus for conserving Ireland's otter population. Though rare in the rest of Europe, Leisler's bat is widespread throughout Ireland - again making the conservation of the Irish population most important.
In 1991, the Irish government declared Irish waters a Whale and Dolphin Sanctuary, and to date 24 cetacean species have been recorded, including Bottlenose Dolphin, Killer Whale, Risso's Dolphin, Long-finned Pilot Whale, Minke Whale, Humpback Whale and Blue Whale.
Badger Meles meles (Photo: Mike Brown)
Lyons, D. O. (2004) Summary of National Parks and Wildlife Service surveys for common (harbour) seals (Phoca vitulina) and grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), 1978 to 2003. [788KB] McAney, K., (2006) A conservation plan for Irish vesper bats. [606KB] Bailey, M. & Rochford, J. (2006) Otter Survey of Ireland 2004/2005. [3MB] Kelleher, C. & Marnell, F. (2006) Bat mitigation guidelines for Ireland. [2.7MB] Poole, W.R., Rogan, G. & Mullen, A. (2007) Investigations into the impact of fyke nets on otter populations in Ireland. [1.44MB] Reid, N., Dingerkus, K., Montgomery, W.I., Marnell, F., Jeffrey, R., Lynn, D., Kingston, N. & McDonald, R.A. (2007) Status of hares in Ireland. [1.79MB] O Cadhla, O., Strong, D., O' Keeffe, C., Coleman, M., Cronin, M., Duck, C., Murray, T., Dower, P., Nairn, R., Murphy, P., Smiddy, P., Saich, C., Lyons, D., and Hiby, L. (2008) An assessment of the breeding population of grey seals in the Republic of Ireland, 2005. [2.56MB] Roche, N., Langton, S., & Aughney, T. (2009) The car based bat monitoring scheme for Ireland: synthesis report 2003-2008 [1.45MB]