Fauna of the Faroe Islands - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...

of the Faroe Islands
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...

is characterized by the islands' remote location in the North Atlantic Ocean, the terrestrial fauna is poor in species, but includes relatively many breeding sea birds, and marine animals. Some sub-species and breeds are endemic. All land mammals were introduced by man.

Birds

See also: Birds of the Faroe Islands

Birds of the Faroe Islands

In the Faroe Islands there are currently about 110 different species of birds although, including vagrants during the last 150 years, over 260 species have been recorded...

The bird fauna of the Faroes is dominated by Sea-birds and birds attracted to open land like Heather

Calluna

Calluna vulgaris is the sole species in the genus Calluna in the family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing perennial shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found widely in Europe and Asia Minor on acidic soils in open sunny situations and in moderate shade...

, probably due to the lack of woodland and other suited habitats. Many species have developed special Faroese races: Eider

Eider

Eiders are large seaducks in the genus Somateria. Steller's Eider, despite its name, is in a different genus.The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern hemisphere....

, Starling

Starling

Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The name "Sturnidae" comes from the Latin word for starling, sturnus. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent...

, Wren

Wren

The wrens are passerine birds in the mainly New World family Troglodytidae. There are approximately 80 species of true wrens in approximately 20 genera....

, Guillemot

Guillemot

Guillemots is the common name for several species of seabird in the auk family . In British use, the term comprises two genera: Uria and Cepphus. In North America the Uria species are called "murres" and only the Cepphus species are called "guillemots"...

, and Black Guillemot

Black Guillemot

The Black Guillemot or Tystie is a medium-sized alcid.Adult birds have black bodies with a white wing patch, a thin dark bill, and red legs and feet. They show white wing linings in flight. In winter, the upperparts are pale grey and the underparts are white. The wings remain black with the large...

. ). Puffin

Puffin

Puffins are any of three small species of auk in the bird genus Fratercula with a brightly coloured beak during the breeding season. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crevices among...

s (Fratercula Arctica), Razorbill

Razorbill

The Razorbill is colonial seabird that will only come to land in order to breed. It is the largest living member of the Auk family. This agile bird will choose only one partner for life and females will lay one egg per year. Razorbills will nest along coastal cliffs in enclosed or slightly exposed...

s (Alca torda), and Guillemot

Guillemot

s (Uria aalge), are very common Sea-birds in Faroe. Gannet

Gannet

Gannets are seabirds comprising the genus Morus, in the family Sulidae, closely related to the boobies.The gannets are large black and white birds with yellow heads. They have long pointed wings and long bills. Northern gannets are the largest seabirds in the North Atlantic, with a wingspan of up...

s (Sula sula) are common around the islands, but only breed on Mykines

Mykines

Mykines is the western-most of the main 18 islands in the Faroe Islands. See also the only settlement on the island, Mykines.Only 11 people live in village Mykines all year around. The oldest inhabitant is 75 and the youngest is 6 years old....

. Black Guillemot

Black Guillemot

s (Cepphus grylle), Eider

Eider

Eiders are large seaducks in the genus Somateria. Steller's Eider, despite its name, is in a different genus.The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern hemisphere....

s (Somateria mollissima) and Shag

Shag

Shag may refer to:*Collegiate shag, a swing dance that originated in the 1920s *Carolina shag, a swing dance that originated in South Carolina in the 1940s*St...

(Phalacrocorax aristotelis) are common around the coast and the Fulmar

Fulmar

Fulmars are seabirds of the family Procellariidae. The family consists of two extant species and two that are extinct.-Taxonomy:As members of Procellaridae and then the order Procellariiformes, they share certain traits. First, they have nasal passages that attach to the upper bill called...

s (Fulmarus glacialis) who immigrated to the islands in the 19´th century are a steadily growing population. There are 6 species of Seagulls (Larus) and the Storm Petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus) colony on Nólsoy

Nólsoy

Nólsoy is an island and village in central Faroe Islands, located to the east of the capital Tórshavn in Streymoy. There is only one settlement on the island: Nólsoy on the north-west coast on Stongin, a peninsula attached to the rest of the island by a metres-wide isthmus...

is the largest in the world.

Inland birds are fewer in numbers, Oyster catcher (Haematopus ostralegus) (the National Bird), Curlew

Curlew

The curlews , genus Numenius, are a group of eight species of birds, characterised by long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. They are one of the most ancient lineages of scolopacid waders, together with the godwits which look similar but have straight bills...

(Numenius), Common Snipe

Common Snipe

The Common Snipe is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World. The breeding habitat is marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows throughout northern Europe and northern Asia...

(Capella gallinago) and Tern

Tern

Terns are seabirds in the family Sternidae, previously considered a subfamily of the gull family Laridae . They form a lineage with the gulls and skimmers which in turn is related to skuas and auks...

(Sterna) are common on the Heather

Calluna

hills. The faroese Starling

Starling

is a sub-species (Sturnus vulgaris faroeensis) the biggest Starling in the world, and is very common in and around human habitation together with the Sparrow

Sparrow

The sparrows are a family of small passerine birds, Passeridae. They are also known as true sparrows, or Old World sparrows, names also used for a genus of the family, Passer...

(Passer). In later years they have been joined by Blackbirds (Turdus merula) which is growing very fast in numbers. Crow

Crow

Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...

s (Corvus cornix) and the faroese-Icelandic subspecies of Raven

Raven

Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...

(Corvus corax varius) are also very common around human habitation. Until the 19´th century a special coloured Raven, the White-speckled Raven was common on the islands. This was not a special race, but a colour variation of the Faroese-Icelandic sub-species. In the same nest, 3 youngsters could be black while 1 could be white-speckled. This colour variation was unique to the Faroe Islands, and maybe because of this, the demand from foreign collectors was big for these ravens, and this might be a reason why it became extinct. The last white-speckled Raven was seen on Nólsoy

Nólsoy

in 1949.

Land Mammals

The land mammals of Faroe have all been introduced, accidentally or deliberately by man. Although 9 Species of wild land mammals have been reported on the Faroe Islands, only 3 have survived and are thriving on the islands today: Mountain Hare

Mountain Hare

The Mountain Hare , also known as Blue Hare, Tundra Hare, Variable Hare, White Hare, Alpine Hare and Irish Hare, is a hare, which is largely adapted to polar and mountainous habitats. It is distributed from Fennoscandia to eastern Siberia; in addition there are isolated populations in the Alps,...

(Lepus timidus), Brown Rat

Brown Rat

The brown rat, common rat, sewer rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Brown Norway rat, Norwegian rat, or wharf rat is one of the best known and most common rats....

(Rattus norvegicus) and the House Mouse

House mouse

The house mouse is a small rodent, a mouse, one of the most numerous species of the genus Mus.As a wild animal the house mouse mainly lives associated with humans, causing damage to crops and stored food....

(Mus domesticus).

The Mountain Hare

Mountain Hare

s were introduced from Kragerø

Kragerø

is a town and municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Vestmar. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kragerø....

in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

in 1854. The first years, some of the Hares developed a white coat in winter, like their ancestors from Norway, but after a few decades, due to the oceanic climate with its lack of snow cover, the Faroese Hares had adopted common traits with the Irish Hares (Lepus timidus hibernicus) staying brown all year.

The faroese House Mouse was probably introduced accidentally from Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

by the irish monks as early as in the 6th century. It is the Western European House Mouse (Mus domesticus) but has earlier been wrongfully labelled as Mus musculus. This naming has also been used to name the sub-species which have evolved in the isolated island populations. The Nólsoy

Nólsoy

House Mouse is a sub-species called (Mus musculus faroeensis) and the Mykines

Mykines

House Mouse is also a sub-species called (Mus musculus mykinessiensis). Its closest relative was the now extinct St Kilda

St Kilda, Scotland

St Kilda is an isolated archipelago west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The largest island is Hirta, whose sea cliffs are the highest in the United Kingdom and three other islands , were also used for...

House Mouse (Mus musculus muralis). Wood Mouse

Wood mouse

The wood mouse is a common murid rodent from Europe and northwestern Africa. It is closely related to the yellow-necked mouse but differs in that it has no band of yellow fur around the neck, has slightly smaller ears, and is usually slightly smaller overall: around 90 mm in length...

or Field Mouse

Apodemus

Apodemus is the genus of Muridae which contains the Eurasian field mice. Related to the Ryūkyū spiny rats and the prehistoric Rhagamys – and far more distantly to Mus and Malacomys –, it includes the following species:*Striped Field Mouse, Apodemus agrarius*Alpine Field Mouse, Apodemus...

(Apodemus sylvaticus) was recorded on the Faroe Islands in the 17th century, but has not been recorded since. These recordings might have been of House mice mistaken for Wood mice.

The Brown Rat

Brown Rat

The brown rat, common rat, sewer rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Brown Norway rat, Norwegian rat, or wharf rat is one of the best known and most common rats....

(Rattus norvegicus) is common in and around human habitations as well as in the outfield, namely doing big damage in bird colonies. It reached the Faroe Islands on a shipwreck which drifted from Shetland to Faroe in the 18´th century. The Brown Rat replaced the former Black Rat

Black Rat

The black rat is a common long-tailed rodent of the genus Rattus in the subfamily Murinae . The species originated in tropical Asia and spread through the Near East in Roman times before reaching Europe by the 1st century and spreading with Europeans across the world.-Taxonomy:The black rat was...

(Rattus rattus) which was common in human habitation in Faroe prior to the arrival of the Brown Rat.

Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) were introduced to Suðuroy

Suðuroy

Suðuroy is the southernmost of the Faroe Islands. The island covers 163.7 km². In 2010 there were 4763 inhabitants, but there has been a gradual decline in the population numbers ever since the 1950s....

in the beginning of the 20th century. They soon spread throughout the island, but after a few years, they were exterminated. Rabbits also established colonies in the extreme south of Eysturoy

Eysturoy

Eysturoy means East island and is the second-largest of the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic, both in size and population. It is separated by a narrow sound from the main island of Streymoy. Eysturoy is extremely rugged, with some 66 separate mountain peaks, including Slættaratindur, the...

(Eystnes

Nes, Eysturoy

Nes is a Village and Municipality on the southwest coast of the Faroese island of Eysturoy. Beside Nes two other towns Toftir and Saltnes are part of Nes Municipality, which has a total population of 1.267 .-Overview:...

) in the 60's and 70's, but they were also exterminated. In 2006 reports were of Rabbits establishing colonies on Streymoy

Streymoy

Streymoy is the largest and most populated island of the Faroe Islands. The capital, Tórshavn is located there. The name means "island of currents".- Geography :...

.

American Mink

American Mink

The American mink is a semi-aquatic species of Mustelid native to North America, though human intervention has expanded its range to many parts of Europe and South America. Because of this, it is classed as Least Concern by the IUCN. Since the extinction of the sea mink, the American mink is the...

(Mustela vison) have escaped from farms on several occasions, but were caught or shot most of the time, and never managed to establish a stock in the wild. Arctic Fox

Arctic fox

The arctic fox , also known as the white fox, polar fox or snow fox, is a small fox native to Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and is common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. The Greek word alopex, means a fox and Vulpes is the Latin version...

es (Alopex lagopus) also escaped from farms now and then in the first half of the 20´th century. These were individuals, who survived for months in the wild until they were found and shot. Without mates though, they were unable to multiply.

In the beginning of the 20´th century, a few Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) were introduced to Tórshavn

Tórshavn

Tórshavn is the capital and largest town of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the north west of the town lies the high mountain Húsareyn, and to the southwest, the high Kirkjubøreyn...

, but too few in numbers, to establish a population.

Bat

Bat

Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...

s are infrequent guests to Faroe, and usually die soon after arrival.

Apart from the local domestic sheep breed called Faroes

Faroes (sheep)

The Faroes is a breed of domestic sheep native to the Faroe Islands. One of the Northern European short-tailed sheep, it is a small, very hardy breed. Faroes ewes weigh around at maturity, and rams are . Rams are horned and ewes are usually polled, and the breed occurs naturally in many different...

, a variety of feral sheep survived on Little Dímun until the mid-19th century. There is also a local breed of horse, the Faroe pony

Faroe pony

The Faroe pony, Faeroes Pony, or Faroese Horse, is a small pony, its height is between Because of its height it is technically a pony, but people on the Faroe Islands call it a horse because of its strength. The colors of the pony are mainly brown, chestnut and black...

Marine Mammals

See also Whaling in the Faroe Islands

Whaling in the Faroe Islands

Whaling in the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic has been practiced since about the time of the first Norse settlements on the islands. It is regulated by Faroese authorities but not by the International Whaling Commission as there are disagreements about the Commission's competency for small...

Grey Seal

The grey seal is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is a large seal of the family Phocidae or "true seals". It is the only species classified in the genus Halichoerus...

s (Halichoerus grypus) are very common around the Faroese shores.

Several species of Whale

Whale

Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...

s live in the waters around the Faroe Islands. Best known are the Short-finned Pilot Whale

Short-finned Pilot Whale

The Short-finned Pilot Whale is one of the two species of cetacean in the genus Globicephala. It is part of the oceanic dolphin family , though its behaviour is closer to that of the larger whales....

s (Globicephala melaena). but the more exotic Killer whales (Orcinus orca) sometimes visit the faroese fjords, and this can lead to a somewhat dangerous encounter if you are in a small boat.

Amphibians

Naturally, there were no Amphibian

Amphibian

Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...

s found in the Faroe Islands. But recently Frogs (Rana temporaria) have been introduced to Faroe, and are breeding successfully on Nólsoy

Nólsoy

.

One finding of a young Toad

Toad

A toad is any of a number of species of amphibians in the order Anura characterized by dry, leathery skin , short legs, and snoat-like parotoid glands...

(Bufo bufo) hibernating on Eysturoy

Eysturoy

has been recorded in 2006. Most likely a lost pet.

Insects and other invertebrates

Flies

Fly

True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...

, Moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

s, Spider

Spider

Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...

s, Beetle

Beetle

Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...

s, Slugs, Snail

Snail

Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...

s, Earthworm

Earthworm

Earthworm is the common name for the largest members of Oligochaeta in the phylum Annelida. In classical systems they were placed in the order Opisthopora, on the basis of the male pores opening posterior to the female pores, even though the internal male segments are anterior to the female...

s and other small Invertebrate

Invertebrate

An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...

s are part of the indigenous fauna of the Faroe Islands.

More recent introductions are the New Zealand flatworm

New Zealand flatworm

The New Zealand flatworm is a large flatworm native to New Zealand. It can vary from 5 mm in length when hatched to approximately in mature adults. The ventral surface of the flatworm is a pale buff colour while the dorsal surface is dark brown...

, the Spanish slug

Spanish slug

The Spanish slug, scientific name Arion vulgaris, more commonly known in English-speaking countries under the incorrectly applied Latin name, Arion lusitanicus, is a species of air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Arionidae, the roundback slugs.This is a...

, and the Common Wasp which all have become part of the natural fauna.

Cockroach

Cockroach

Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria or Blattodea, of which about 30 species out of 4,500 total are associated with human habitations...

es, Black garden ant

Black garden ant

The black garden ant is a formicine ant, the type species of the subgenus Lasius, found all over Europe and in some parts of North America and Asia. It is monogynous, meaning colonies have a single queen....

s, Pharaoh ant

Pharaoh ant

The pharaoh ant is a small yellow or light brown, almost transparent ant notorious for being a major indoor nuisance pest, especially in hospitals. The origin of this "tramp" ant is uncertain, although favoured alternatives include West Africa and Indonesia...

s and Burgundy snail

Helix pomatia

Helix pomatia, common names the Burgundy snail, Roman snail, edible snail or escargot, is a species of large, edible, air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Helicidae...

s have also been found, but it's not clear if they have become part of the established fauna.

External links

Faroenature.net (in Faroese)
NGS.fo (Faroe Islands Natural History Museum)

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.