The Wild Beasts That Once Roamed Britain

Giant lions which were 25% larger than the lions of today once roamed about Britain. The fossil evidence from Yorkshire, Devon and London, also shows that these British lions weighed up to 317kg (50 stone) which is similar to the weight of a small car.

These super-sized lions became extinct 13,000 years ago but genetic evidence shows that the extinct lions and the lions of today, were very closely related. Dr Barnett, who led research by Oxford University, also found that the lions split into two major groups with one group living in Europe and Alaska and the other group in North America. As a land bridge linked Siberia and Alaska, during the ice age, these ancient lions were able to cross from Eurasia into North America. But, believe it or not, the North American lions were even bigger than their British lion cousins.

The environment in which the British lions once lived was similar to how Siberia is today, as the lions hunted giant deer and mammoths until they all became extinct.

Other giant animals also rambled about Britain and Europe, such as the Eurasian Brown Bear, which grew to 8ft tall and lived in Forrests. Brown bears died out during Medieval times (1000AD), which is unsurprising when the popularity of fur coats and the "sport" of bear-baiting is taken into consideration. Bear-baiting involved tormenting a bear and then getting the bear to fight another bear or other animals, such as savage dogs.

The remains of the European jaguar have been found in Italy (first appearance in the fossil record about 1.5 million years ago), England, Germany, Spain, France, and the Netherlands. It was a predator with a body weight range between 70 and 210 kg, which was much larger than the modern jaguar from South America.

During the Ice Age, herbivorous Woolly Rhinoceros were roaming about Britain, as an area between France and Britain, called Doggerland, had allowed these rhinos and other animals to travel to Britain from southern Europe. During the coldest part of the Ice Age period, sea levels were more than 330ft (100m) lower than today.

An image of the area known as Doggerland which connected the British Isles and the European continent. 

Straight-tusked elephants also travelled the Doggerland route into Britain but they went extinct around 120,000 years ago when the climate became particularly cold.

Most of the world's megafauna like the Woolly Mammoth and Woolly Rhinos were extinct by 10,000 years ago and scientists have argued about whether it was climate change or humans which was the main driving force. The evidence is tending toward human activity as being the main force of extinction.