WThe Balkan snow vole, Dinaromys bogdanovi, also known as Martino's snow vole is the only member of the genus Dinaromys. Eight subspecies of this vole have been recognized from southern parts of Europe. The genus name means "Dinaric mouse", referring to the Dinaric Alps. The Balkan snow vole is a living fossil, the only living genus in the tribe Pliomyini and might arguably better be placed in Pliomys, a genus established for its fossil relatives even before the Balkan snow vole was scientifically described.
WThe bigeye thresher is a species of thresher shark, family Alopiidae, found in temperate and tropical oceans worldwide. Like other thresher sharks, nearly half its total length consists of the elongated upper lobe of the tail fin. Its common name comes from its enormous eyes, which are placed in keyhole-shaped sockets that allow them to be rotated upward. This species can also be distinguished by a pair of deep grooves on the top of its head, from which its scientific name is derived.
WBombus alpinus is a species of bumblebee. It is native to Europe and Eurasia, where it occurs in Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Romania, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland.
WThe broom hare is a species of hare endemic to northern Spain. It is restricted to the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain between the Serra dos Ancares and the Sierra de Peña Labra. This region is about 230 km (140 mi) from east to west and 25–40 km (16–25 mi) from north to south. It lives in mountains at elevations up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft), though it descends during the winter to avoid the colder temperatures and snow. Its preferred habitat is heathland, containing mainly Erica, Calluna, and Vaccinium, with much shrub cover of Cytisus, Genista, and Juniperus. It also inhabits clearings in mixed deciduous forests of oak and beech.
WThe Corsican hare, also known as the Apennine hare or Italian hare, is a species of hare found in southern and central Italy and Corsica.
WThe Cretan shrew is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic and exclusive to the island of Crete, Greece. Its natural habitat is temperate shrubland, and the animal is threatened by habitat loss. It is found in the mountainous highlands of Crete, having been displaced from lower altitudes by the lesser white-toothed shrew.
WThe European bison, also known as the wisent, the zubr, or the European wood bison, is a Eurasian species of bison. It is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the American bison. Three subspecies existed in the recent past, but only one, the nominate subspecies, survives today. Analysis of mitochondrial genomes and nuclear DNA revealed that the wisent is theoretically the descendant of a species which arose as a result of hybridisation between the extinct steppe bison and the ancestors of the aurochs since their genetic material contains up to 10% aurochs DNA sequences; the possible hybrid is referred to informally as the Higgs bison, a play-on-words in reference to the Higgs boson, which is now extinct. Alternatively, the Pleistocene woodland bison has been suggested as the ancestor to the species.
WThe European ground squirrel, also known as the European souslik, is a species from the squirrel family, Sciuridae. It is among the few European species in the genus Spermophilus. Like all squirrels, it is a member of the rodent order. It is to be found in eastern Europe from southern Ukraine, to Asia Minor, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and north as far as Poland but the range is divided in two parts by the Carpathian Mountains.
WThe smooth hammerhead is a species of hammerhead shark, and part of the family Sphyrnidae. This species is named "smooth hammerhead" because of the distinctive shape of the head, which is flattened and laterally extended into a hammer shape, without an indentation in the middle of the front margin. Unlike other hammerheads, this species prefers temperate waters and occurs worldwide at medium latitudes. In the summer, these sharks migrate towards the poles following cool water masses, sometimes forming schools numbering in the hundreds to thousands.
WThe leatherback sea turtle, sometimes called the lute turtle or leathery turtle or simply the luth, is the largest of all living turtles and is the fourth-heaviest modern reptile behind three crocodilians. It is the only living species in the genus Dermochelys and family Dermochelyidae. It can easily be differentiated from other modern sea turtles by its lack of a bony shell, hence the name. Instead, its carapace is covered by skin and oily flesh.
WThe long-fingered bat is a carnivorous species of vesper bat. It is native to coastal areas around the Mediterranean Sea, as well as a few patches of land in western Iran. Due to the fact that its population is in decline, it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1988.
WThe Madeira pipistrelle is a species of vesper bat. It is endemic to Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands.
WMehely's horseshoe bat is a species of insectivorous bat in the family Rhinolophidae found in Southern Europe and parts of the Middle East. It is distributed in a narrow band around the Mediterranean Sea from North-Western Africa across Portugal, Spain, the Balearics, southern France, Sardinia, Sicily and the Balkan Peninsula to Asia Minor.
WThe polar bear is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear species, as well as the largest extant predatory carnivore. A boar weighs around 350–700 kg (772–1,543 lb), while a sow is about half that size. Although it is the sister species of the brown bear, it has evolved to occupy a narrower ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice and open water, and for hunting seals, which make up most of its diet. Although most polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their time on the sea ice. Their scientific name means "maritime bear" and derives from this fact. Polar bears hunt their preferred food of seals from the edge of sea ice, often living off fat reserves when no sea ice is present. Because of their dependence on the sea ice, polar bears are classified as marine mammals.
WThe marbled polecat is a small mammal belonging to the monotypic genus Vormela within the mustelid subfamily Ictonychinae. Vormela is from the German word Würmlein, which means "little worm". The specific name peregusna comes from perehuznya (перегузня), which is Ukrainian for "polecat". Marbled polecats are generally found in the drier areas and grasslands of southeastern Europe to western China. Like other members of Ictonychinae, it can emit a strong-smelling secretion from anal sacs under the tail when threatened.
WThe Pyrenean desman is a small semiaquatic, globally threatened mammal related to moles and shrews, and, along with the Russian desman , is one of the two extant members of the tribe Desmanini. The species occurs in north and central parts of Spain and Portugal, French Pyrenees, and Andorra, but severe range contractions have been documented across its geographic distribution.
WThe Roach's mouse-tailed dormouse or ground dormouse, also known simply as the mouse-tailed dormouse, is a species of rodent in the family Gliridae. It is found in Bulgaria, Turkey and possibly extreme eastern Greece.
WSardinella maderensis is a species of small ray-finned fish in the genus Sardinella which is found in the Eastern Atlantic and Southeastern Mediterranean. it is a silvery fish similar to the round sardinella, but can be distinguished from that species by having gray caudal fins with black tips. It feeds on phytoplankton and fish larvae and is a pelagic, oceanodromous species that forms schools in coastal waters, often mixed with S. aurita. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated this fish's conservation status as "vulnerable".
WThe Sardinian long-eared bat is a species of bat endemic to Sardinia, Italy.
WSemisalsa stagnorum is a species of small brackish water snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Cochliopidae.
WThe Pontic shad, also referred to as the Black Sea shad or Kerch shad, is a species of clupeid fish in the genus Alosa, native to the Black Sea and Sea of Azov basins.
WThe dusky shark is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, occurring in tropical and warm-temperate continental seas worldwide. A generalist apex predator, the dusky shark can be found from the coast to the outer continental shelf and adjacent pelagic waters, and has been recorded from a depth of 400 m (1,300 ft). Populations migrate seasonally towards the poles in the summer and towards the equator in the winter, traveling hundreds to thousands of kilometers. One of the largest members of its genus, the dusky shark reaches 4.2 m (14 ft) in length and 347 kg (765 lb) in weight. It has a slender, streamlined body and can be identified by its short round snout, long sickle-shaped pectoral fins, ridge between the first and second dorsal fins, and faintly marked fins.
WThe school shark is a houndshark of the family Triakidae, and the only member of the genus Galeorhinus. Common names also include tope shark, snapper shark, and soupfin shark. It is found worldwide in temperate seas at depths down to about 800 m (2,600 ft). It can grow to nearly 2 m long. It feeds both in midwater and near the seabed, and its reproduction is ovoviviparous. This shark is caught in fisheries for its flesh, its fins, and its liver, which has a very high vitamin A content. The IUCN has classified this species as critically endangered in its Red List of Threatened Species.
WThe oceanic whitetip shark, also known as Brown Milbert's sand bar shark, brown shark, lesser white shark, nigano shark, oceanic white-tipped whaler, and silvertip shark, is a large pelagic requiem shark inhabiting tropical and warm temperate seas. Its stocky body is most notable for its long, white-tipped, rounded fins.
WThe southwestern water vole, also called southern water vole, is a large amphibious vole native to most of France and south-westwards through Spain and Portugal. It is listed on the IUCN Red List as vulnerable. Although historically considered to be a member of the same species as the European water vole, Musser and Carleton (2005) considered it distinct enough to warrant full species status. It is threatened for many of the same reasons as the northern water vole, and a campaign is currently underway to seek protection for the species, both at a national level and at European Union level.
WThe starlet sea anemone is a species of small sea anemone in the family Edwardsiidae native to the east coast of the United States, with introduced populations along the coast of southeast England and the west coast of the United States. Populations have also been located in Nova Scotia, Canada. This sea anemone is found in the shallow brackish water of coastal lagoons and salt marshes where its slender column is usually buried in the mud and its tentacles exposed. Its genome has been sequenced and it is cultivated in the laboratory as a model organism, but the IUCN has listed it as being a "Vulnerable species" in the wild.
WThe smalltooth sand tiger or bumpytail ragged-tooth is a species of mackerel shark in the family Odontaspididae, with a patchy but worldwide distribution in tropical and warm temperate waters. They usually inhabit deepwater rocky habitats, though they are occasionally encountered in shallow water, and have been known to return to the same location year after year. This rare species is often mistaken for the much more common grey nurse shark, from which it can be distinguished by its first dorsal fin, which is larger than the second and placed further forward. It grows to at least 4.1 m (13.5 ft) in length.