Extinct animals from the Isle of Man
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Manx cattle

Manx cattle became extinct c. 1815. A description of the breed survives along with a record that the
Manx people The Manx (; gv, ny Manninee) are an ethnic group originating on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea in northern Europe. Their native culture has significant Norse-Gaels, Norse-Gaelic, Celts, Celtic, and English people, English influences. The M ...
referred to them as ''Boaghans'' or ''Boghans'' ( Manx words for
cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
include ''Booa'' and ''Baa''). Thomas Quayle described the Manx breed, just as they were dying out, in his 1812 ''General View of Agriculture in the Isle of Man'':


Manx sheepdog

The Manx sheepdog was a
breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...
of
sheepdog A sheep dog or sheepdog is generally a dog or breed of dogs historically used in connection with the raising of sheep. These include livestock guardian dogs used to guard sheep and other livestock and herding dogs used to move, manage and co ...
from the
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that is now
extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
. Little is known about the
breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...
except that it had a remarkable "ability to 'hould' or separate and immobilise, any sheep which was pointed out" (W. Walter Gill). The following extract is believed to have been written by a Ms. A. L. J. Gosset; It continues ... It continues ...


Manx horse

Manx horses also became extinct c. 1820–1830. Of them Thomas Quayle said,


Manx pig

The Manx pig were known to the locals as 'purrs'. They had completely died long before Thomas Quayle wrote this about them;


Other extinct species

Four
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of birds that once bred on the
Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...
have gone
extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
locally; of these, the
great auk The great auk (''Pinguinus impennis'') is a species of flightless alcid that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus ''Pinguinus''. It is not closely related to the birds now known as penguins, wh ...
is extinct worldwide. None of these animals were solely native to the Isle of Man. Several other species of mammals, such as the
brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kno ...
,
wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...
and
Eurasian beaver The Eurasian beaver (''Castor fiber'') or European beaver is a beaver species that was once widespread in Eurasia, but was hunted to near-extinction for both its fur and castoreum. At the turn of the 20th century, only about 1,200 beavers survi ...
, may have once been present in the Isle of Man. However, no evidence has been found of their existence.


Mammals

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Red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...
*
Irish elk The Irish elk (''Megaloceros giganteus''), also called the giant deer or Irish deer, is an extinct species of deer in the genus ''Megaloceros'' and is one of the largest deer that ever lived. Its range extended across Eurasia during the Pleisto ...
(extinct worldwide)


Breeding birds

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Eurasian bittern The Eurasian bittern or great bittern (''Botaurus stellaris'') is a wading bird in the bittern subfamily (Botaurinae) of the heron family Ardeidae. There are two subspecies, the northern race (''B. s. stellaris'') breeding in parts of Europe and ...
*
Black grouse The black grouse (''Lyrurus tetrix''), also known as northern black grouse, Eurasian black grouse, blackgame or blackcock, is a large game bird in the grouse family. It is a sedentary species, spanning across the Palearctic in moorland and step ...
*
Red grouse The red grouse (''Lagopus lagopus scotica'') is a medium-sized bird of the grouse family which is found in heather moorland in Great Britain and Ireland. It is usually classified as a subspecies of the willow ptarmigan but is sometimes consider ...
(re-introduced) *
Corn bunting The corn bunting (''Emberiza calandra'') is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae. This is a large bunting with heavily streaked buff-brown plumage. The se ...
*
Great auk The great auk (''Pinguinus impennis'') is a species of flightless alcid that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus ''Pinguinus''. It is not closely related to the birds now known as penguins, wh ...
(extinct worldwide) *
White-tailed eagle The white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla'') is a very large species of sea eagle widely distributed across temperate Palearctic, Eurasia. Like all eagles, it is a member of the family Accipitridae (or accipitrids) which includes other diur ...


Plants

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Juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...
''Juniperis communis'', became extinct in the 20th century. It suffered a major decline after its uses for firewood and
gin Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink that derives its flavour from juniper berries (''Juniperus communis''). Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe, particularly in southern Italy, Flanders and the Ne ...
-making ceased.
Climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
is suspected to have made the population that was left infertile. Juniper has now been reintroduced in the north of the Island by
Manx Wildlife Trust Manx Wildlife Trust (MWT) was founded on 6 March 1973 and is the Isle of Man’s leading nature conservation charity. Nature Reserves The Manx Wildlife Trust (as of September 2022) manages 26 nature reserves, along with the Calf of Man (on behalf ...
.


See also

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List of extinct animals of the British Isles This is a list of extinct animals of the British Isles, including extirpated species. Only a small number of the listed species are globally extinct (most famously the Irish elk, great auk and woolly mammoth). Most of the remainder survive to s ...
*
List of extinct animals of Europe This list of European animals extinct in the Holocene features animals known to have become extinct in the last 12,000 years on the European continent and its surrounding islands. Dependent territories of European countries in other continents, l ...


References

* W. Walter Gill, "Manx Dialect Words and Phrases". 1934. * T. Quayle, "General View of the Agriculture of the Isle of Man". 1812. * http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/tq1812/index.htmlink{{Dead link, date=August 2019 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes * http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/sheep.htm Animals in the Isle of Man
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