{"id":155287,"date":"2025-11-23T11:07:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T11:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/155287\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T11:07:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T11:07:10","slug":"four-rare-animal-species-are-being-reintroduced-to-scotland-from-lynx-to-red-squirrels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/155287\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Rare Animal Species Are Being Reintroduced To Scotland, From Lynx To Red Squirrels"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\u00a0charity in Scotland is embarking on an ambitious\u00a0project to bring four entire species back to the Highlands. Trees for Life is dedicated to \u2018rewilding the Scottish Highlands\u2019, which includes everything from gaining\u00a0extra protections for forests<\/a>, to the \u2018Missing Species Appeal\u2019 \u2013 a campaign advocating for the return of \u2018Scotland\u2019s lost keystone animals\u2019 to their rightful homes.<\/p>\n

Lynx, beavers, red squirrels, and modern-day aurochs, a type of horned cattle that went extinct during the 17th century, are the animals that Trees for Life is fighting for. It says that they all once played a \u2018vital role\u2019 in maintaining the Highland ecosystem, and that \u2018centuries of persecution and habitat destruction’ caused numbers to diminish.<\/p>\n

Beavers were hunted into near extinction centuries ago, but in 2009 the Scottish Wildlife Trust began to reintroduce them to the nation\u2019s wetlands. Trees for Life says that the Highlands are \u2018missing\u2019 them and their dam-building skills.<\/p>\n

Red squirrels can still be found across Scotland, but they are becoming increasingly rare, and are vacant from entire stretches of Highland scenery. Trees for Life has already begun reintroducing these little creatures to the landscape, but wants to do so at a much higher rate.<\/p>\n

\"Re
\nPhotograph: Shutterstock <\/p>\n

The charity reckons that it could help support \u2018a breeding population of 250 lynx\u2019. It notes that Scotland is one of the only places the cats are native to that they haven\u2019t been reintroduced to.<\/p>\n

The modern day aurochs, known as the tauros, are perhaps the most interesting animal<\/a> being brought back. Tauros have been selectively back-bred by researchers in the Netherlands to be as genetically similar to their extinct cousins as possible, so they\u2019re sort of franken-cows. Trees for Life said that tauros\u2019 \u2018role in ecological restoration would be scientifically studied\u2019.<\/p>\n

The charity needs to raise \u00a33.6 million to fund its mission. It says that returning these animals \u2013 \u2018architects of the wild \u2013 is essential to \u2018restarting the natural engines of Scotland\u2019s ecosystems, boosting biodiversity, climate action and local economies, and giving people the chance to discover the wonder of a wilder landscape.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Highlands can become a beacon of hope in the fight against extinction and wildlife loss\u2019.<\/p>\n

You can donate to the cause on Trees for Life\u2019s website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Have you seen the\u00a0British UNESCO heritage site will become a National Trust attraction in 2026<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Plus: New \u2018forest towns\u2019 are being built between two major English cities<\/a><\/p>\n

Stay in the loop:\u00a0sign up to our free Time Out UK newsletter<\/a>\u00a0for the latest UK news and the best stuff happening across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A\u00a0charity in Scotland is embarking on an ambitious\u00a0project to bring four entire species back to the Highlands. Trees…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[20201,61,60,35382,82,6490,263],"class_list":["post-155287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-categories-things-to-do","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news-city-life","tag-science","tag-things-to-do","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}