I am sure you could think of animals unique to Africa, Asia, North and South America, Antarctica and Australia, but what about Europe?
Mammals, offhand: Lemming. Western European Hedgehog. Western Polecat.
Europeans. They’re mammals unique to Europe, although they may be often found outside their natural habitat.
Offhand, too:
- Wisent (European Buffalo)
- Prezwalski horse
At the species level, there has to be loads of animals with a range restricted to Europe.
For instance, the “Eurasian beaver”, Castor fiber, in spite of its name, only lives in Europe. I suspect the OP was not looking for this sort of thing, and would say that beavers live in North America, too, the differences between various sorts of Castors being of interest only to biologists and (presumably) the animals themselves.
(Although, in finding that example, I did happen across the curious fact that Castor fiber, while nearly identical in appearance to Castor canadensis, displays no interest in building dams.)
Iberian Lynx
Scottish Wild cat
Orkney vole…
I imagine quite a few animals were once endemic to Europe but spread out with the growth of trade and exploration, but I can’t think which ones for sure, so I might be wrong.
SF worldbuilding at
http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html
What about badgers? Do badgers live anywhere outside of Europe? I’ve never heard of any here in America.
The European badger, Meles meles, has a range extending into Asia.
America most certainly does have badgers - a different species, Taxidea taxis, larger and more ill-tempered than the European variety, which is social, while the American species is solitary.
Hedgehogs?
I believe there’s a kind of Alpine mountain goat called a chamois – prized for its hide. Does it live anywhere but the Alps?
The Przewalski horse or takhi, Equus caballus przewalskii wasn’t native to Europe, it was originally from central Asia and has recently been reintroduced there to replace the extinct wild stocks. The Russian name came from Colonel Nikolai Przewalski, the man who captured the first specimens from that region.
There was a species of wild horse native to Europe though, the tarpan, Equus caballus gmelini. The last pure bred ones died out in the 1870s, but there are some in the Bialowieza forest in Poland that are supposed to be descended from them.
The European wildcat is not only found in Scotland, but in a few other places such as Spain, Germany and Poland (still Europe though).
The Alpine ibex, Capra ibex, is restricted to Europe, although its cousins are found elsewhere, and I can’t find a reference to the dormouse Muscardinus arvellanarius outside of Europe (again there are other varieties elsewhere).
The pine marten, Martes martes, is mostly found in Europe but its range leaks into Asia, as does that of the the mostly-European goat/antelope the Chamois, Rupicapra rupicapra.
I pressed too soon. There is a small group in the Tatra mountains and an introduced herd in New Zealand.
Just briefly checked, you get African pygmy hedehogs so I guess that rules them out (though the one that lives at the bottom of my garden doesn’t seem to travel too far).
What about the European (as distinct from the African) swallow?
Slow worms, I’ve never heard of them outside the British Isles.
Fully laden?
The reason why it’s going to be hard to trace animals restricted to Europe is because the neighbouring continents have land bridges to it and there is similar habitat either side of the boundary.
The hedgehog we get in the UK is Erinaceus europaeus, and although it isn’t the same as the pygmy hedgehog, Atelerix albiventris, it occurs all the way to the Russian Pacific coast.
The slow worm, Anguis fragilis, is found in most of Europe, but also occurs in North Africa.
The Great Crested Newt
You’ve never heard of the slow worm outside the British Isles because its called the blind worm elsewhere (IIRC).
Also, I’ve always thought the adder was unique to Britain.
Yes. What we call the Great Crested Newt in the UK is Triturus cristatus cristatus and that’s only found in Europe.
Several other species of replites and amphibians are only found wild in Europe too:
The Alpine Salamander Salamandra atra, Lanza’s Alpine Salamander Salamandra lanzai, the Spectacled Salamander Salamandrina terdigitata, the Golden-Striped Salamander Chioglossa lusitanica, Pyrenean Brook Salamander Euproctus asper and sub-species, the Sardinian Brook Salamander or Flat-Headed Salamander Euproctus platycephalus, the Corsican Brook Salamander Euproctus montanus, the Marbled Newt Triturus marmoratus, the Alpine Newt Triturus alpestris, the Alpine Crested Newt Triturus cristatus carnifex, the Danube Crested Newt Triturus cristatus dobrogicus, the Smooth Newt Triturus vulgaris, Montandon’s Newt Triturus montandoni, the Palmate Newt Triturus helveticus, Bosca’s Newt Triturus boscai, the Italian Newt Triturus italicus, the Italian Cave Salamander Hydromantes italicus the Sardinian Cave Salamander Hydromantes genei the French Cave Salamander Hydromantes strinatii, the Olm Proteus anguinus and some subspecies of the Sling-Tailed Agama Laudakia stellio.
The adder or viper, Vipera berus is not unique to the UK, but it is restricted to Europe.
BrainGlutton: I assumed you were joking about the swallow, but in case anybody didn’t get it, there’s no such difference outside of a Monty Python film. The bird we call the swallow migrates between Europe and Africa and is the same bird as the barn swallow of North America, Hirundo rustica.