Specieswatch: push to reintroduce lynx into UK gathers momentum

A female Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) with four kittens in Sweden. The UK and Ireland are among the few north European countries without lynx in the wild. Photograph: blickwinkel/Alamy

The UK and Ireland are among the few countries in northern Europe without the apex predator the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx).

Like most of Britain’s larger native animals, wolves and beavers, it was hunted to extinction, in this case about 1,300 years ago, helping to push the UK towards the distinction of being the most nature-depleted country in Europe.