A wide range of animals and plants that once lived in Scotland have disappeared.
This has been the result of a range of both natural and human
influences.
Animals such as the giant Irish deer and mammoth became
extinct before the end of the Ice Age. Others, such as the reindeer,
died out just after the ice disappeared and the climate got warmer.
However,
many animals disappeared within the last few hundred years. Evidence of their presence in Scotland is provided both by skeletal
remains and historical references.
The great auk is extinct worldwide
but other species have survived elsewhere. This has allowed the
reintroduction of lost species such as the white-tailed sea eagle and
red kite.