Britain’s little lions
B
ones of lynx have been recorded from limestone caves the length and breadth of Britain. It used to be thought that the most recent of these bones was around 4000 years old, and that lynx died out
around that time. Because there had been a period of natural climate change at roughly the same time, resulting in Britain receiving cooler temperatures and more rainfall, it was assumed that lynx couldn’t cope with the new conditions and died out naturally. However, this theory is inconsistent with the lynx’s survival into the 19th century in south-western Norway where the oceanic climate is very similar to Britain’s, and where the species was instead wiped out through the over-hunting of deer populations, as well as direct persecution and over-exploitation for fur. We now know that several British lynx bones are much younger than previously assumed. Specimens from North Yorkshire in northern England and from Sutherland in the Scottish Highlands have been radiocarbon-dated to the Roman era, while another bone from North Yorkshire gave a younger date still — this time from the early medieval period14. This means that natural climate
The skull of a male lynx found in a limestone cave in Sutherland in the Scottish
change can be ruled out as a cause for the lynx’s extinction in Britain. The
Highlands. A bone from this lynx was radiocarbon-dated to the 3rd century. The
‘hard facts’ of relatively recent radiocarbon dates meant a hunt for the clues to a cultural relationship between Britain’s people and its native lynx population could be investigated more confidently. This has yielded faint traces of the lynx through the centuries.
124
species may have lived in the Highlands until as recently as the 16th century.
