Peter Trimming under Creative Commons.
The Royal Society of Biology (RSB) has called upon the people of Britain to cast the vote in their new poll to discover the country’s favourite mammal.
The RSB want to find out exactly which non-domestic creature residing within our shores and coastal waters that are considered to be the most popular, with the survey including renowned figures in the UK such as the water vole, fox, highland wildcat, bottlenose dolphin, red squirrel, and soprano pipistrelle bat.
The poll has been unveiled to coincide with Biology Week, with the intention of sourcing what British people deem the most-highly rated in our environment.
There are currently some 101 species of mammal living on our shores, with some calling the UK home since the last ice age!
The survey is made up mainly of land-residing animals, but there are some additions that live in other areas, those being the bottlenose dolphin and the tiny soprano pipistrelle – one of 18 species of bat found in the UK.
There are lots of mammals currently in a state of decline, although plenty can be seen on our outdoor activity breaks, in spite of the fact that their natural habitats are becoming more scarce.
However, otter numbers are slowly rising, along with the beaver population, after being classed as extinct in the UK, as a result of hunting back in the 16th century.