Mammals are descended from a late Carboniferous tetrapod group called the Synapsida. They are characterised by middle ear bones, erect limb posture, a bony secondary palate, fur/hair, nourishment of young with milk from mammary glands, and warm-bloodedness. Surviving mammals belong to three major groups, the Monotremes or Egg-laying Mammals (Duck-billed Platypus and Echidnas), and the live-bearing groups, the Marsupials (with pouch and multiple teats for carrying and nourishing the young), and the Placental Mammals (presence of umbilical cord). Currently 679 species of mammal are endangered, with a further 783 species threatened.
There are 78 species of wild mammal in the UK and Crown Dependencies, some of which have been recently introduced without controls, including several species of deer, and some have been reintroduced with government permission. Two foreign escapees, the Coypu and the Musk Rat, have been exterminated, although American Mink remain at large, and only one native species, the St Kilda House Mouse, has become extinct through natural causes, after the St Kilda population was evacuated in 1930. Wild Boar, a former native species, have escaped into woods, including in Sussex; Beaver, Elk, and Reindeer have been reintroduced in a managed way; and European Bison, Lynx, Grey Wolf, and Brown Bear are in controlled areas for study prior to being released when government permission is granted. European Bison are scheduled for release in Blean Woods, Kent, in 2022.
Animal Lore
The perceived significance of animal behaviour
Rural folk saw wild animals as their kin and saw parallels between animals’ lives and their own. Animals, like their observers, occupied themselves principally with keeping warm or cool, finding food, courting, reproducing and raising young, and also like their observers, died with little fuss. Those familiar with the habits of wild animals admired their strength and healthy lifestyl and were envious of their superior senses and environmental mastery. This admiration nurtured the belief that by consuming them they could absorb their skills and qualities, and by observation learn their modes of survival. People came to regard the shape, appearance and habits of animals as reflecting their skills and qualities, and their behaviour was closely studied in relation to their environment. The traditional collective wisdom handed down as a result of observation and experience of familiar animals became animal lore proper. Mythical animals are entirely invented whereas the word legend is properly applied to stories about known animals.
Unusual animal behaviour happening coincidentally alongside a human or natural tragedy caused folk to link the two events. This may explain why a gathering of waxwings is said to foretell war. Creatures that flew, or which hibernated, migrated or otherwise disappeared for a time, were thought either to transmogrify or to spend time in another world. Birds, for example, were once thought to be the messengers of the gods. If they tapped on a window that signified misfortune, and if they flew down a chimney, death would follow. As with plants, the breeding cycles and activities of animals, and arrival and departure of migrants, depends on latitude and longitude as does the climate, so there may be geographical differences in the applicability of calendrical lore.
The doctrine of signatures applied to animals
The doctrine of signatures linked animal habits to symptoms, and shape and function to effect. Therefore, eating extracts of tusk or horn imparted strength, just as eating a penis improved sexual potency. A foot from the lively rabbit protected against rheumatism, and a horse’s tooth tied round a baby’s neck alleviated teething pain and produced strong teeth. Extracts from the densely coated badger cured baldness, and, incidentally, coughs, rheumatism, shortness of breath, and sprains, and from the bones of the athletic horse came preparations to loosen stiff joints and sinews. As snakes have no eyelids their flesh improved sight, but the heart or gall of a keen-sighted eagle, owl or raven would do just as well. What better way to stimulate blood flow than to use insect exudates as counter-irritants, and to cure earache than by inserting pulverised earwig. The flesh of a dove, a docile bird, draws out virulent fever, and as whooping is similar to an owl’s cry then owl broth will cure whooping cough. The coarsely honking sound of the goose meant that its fat when rubbed on the chest cured bronchial complaints. Unlike the toad the frog has a smooth skin, so it is placed on warts to shrivel them. The view that the effects of disease could be alleviated by bleeding is very ancient, and the medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis) was used into the 20th Century. Collectors were paid to wade into ponds so that the leeches attached to their legs.
British Mammal Identification and Location
Before one can discover mammals one must get to know their environment, which means spending time in their habitat to get to know its characteristics; its sights, sounds, odours, tastes, and textures, and how these change with the weather and seasons, as well as with human interference. Visit the habitat in all weathers and at all times of the year, and look, listen, smell, taste, and touch all parts of it (tasting only what is safe). When you know the habitat intimately, you will be able to detect when it has changed because of the presence of a mammal.
If you know the mammal’s lifestyle, especially when it is likely to be active (hunting, seeking a mate, courtship, caring for young, escaping from a predator, etc.), you will sense its presence and why it is there. Particularly, you must look, listen and smell, and respond accordingly. Be silent, but if this is impossible then keep stopping to discern if what you have detected is reacting to your movement and its ceasing. Once you know what sensory differences are expected from a certain mammal’s presence you will begin to find it easier to track it down.
Wind, rain, sunlight, snow, ice, and other meteorological elements all affect a habitat, and you must know how and with what consequences. Similarly, you must judge how wildlife will react to weather if you want to find it. Finding a mammal that will be sheltering is very difficult because it knows the nooks and crannies better than you do. ‘Think animal’ all the time. For example, if there has been much rainfall then burrowing mammals, or mammals resting or hibernating, may come up because of the rising water table. In high wind, don’t expect to see many small birds flying, but look for them in cover, and whatever is hunting them. Whatever the weather, mammals still have to feed, and by thinking animal you can work out how and possibly where.
All mammal activity leaves traces. Some are static, like burrows, nests, droppings, remains of a kill, regurgitated pellets, rutting marks, snagged fur, footprints, chewed nut shells and other feeding debris, broken branches after passing through, and forms or flattened areas for resting. Others are dynamic, such as ripples and splashes, rustling of twigs and leaves, and vibration of the ground. Depending on the trace, it will variously have sights, sounds, odours, tastes or textures that are characteristic. Some are so obvious, such as body odour or flatulence of a large mammal, or foul-smelling droppings, or a series of clear footprints, that they are good enough for identification. Others may be indicative of a genus or family rather than of a species. The fresher the trace and the better your scent-mapping of the habitat, the more useful each trace becomes.
The most valuable traces for identification are tracks, droppings, burrows and nests, and feeding remains. Many tracks will be those of farm, domestic or feral animals, so you must, for example, be able to distinguish between those of a dog and of a fox. Tracks made in fresh snow or in shallow mud after rain are the most reliable, but they all weather quickly. The shape and odour of droppings is helpful, as are protruding undigested remains of plants or animal parts. The droppings of domestic dogs and cats are confusingly variable because they are usually not on a natural diet. Look in and around burrows and nests for scraps of food, footprints, pieces of fur, excavated earth, and droppings. Food remains such as a killed bird, gnawed nutshell, or stripped fir cone are useful, but often additional evidence is needed for identification.
Some mammals hibernate in Winter, whereas some go into a dormant state and go out occasionally to eat and drink. Hedgehogs increase their body weight in Autumn and hibernate in a nest. Bats roost in a cool, humid place and only venture out now and again to feed. Dormice hibernate in an underground nest.
