Animals in Lithuania

Lithuania is a relatively small country in north central Europe that has common borders with Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Belaurus and the Baltic Sea.
There are at least 20 wild animals that are common and native to Lithuania, although none of them are unique. Among the native animals of this country that consists of broad flat plains with plenty of grass and cereal crops along with heavy and dense forests and abundant rivers and streams are the wild boar, European elk, European bison, Roe deer, beaver,lynx, mink, the least weasel, common otter, dormouse, badgers, ermine, European polecat, brown bear, artic wolf artic hare and the vole.
Some sea animals that are native to Lithuania are the gray seal, dolphins, blue and harbor porpoises and whales.
Out of the land animals, the European minx, the brown bear and the garden dormouse are considered extinct, while on the endangered species list are the gray seal and the lynx.
Among the native bird species on the endangered list are the black-throated duck, the golden, the short-toed and the greater spotted eagle, the Peregrine falcon, the willow grouse and the Eurasian eagle owl.
The European bison is a remarkable story of survival as the species was near extinction and living in a heavily forested area of Poland since the 1920s. The bison have been re-introduced into civilization and they are thriviing in the dense forests of Lithuania and other countries in north central Europe. The bison, weighing between 1700 and 2200 pounds, thrive on a diet of leaves, grass, crops and low-lying shrubs. Daily, the bison must drink a lot of water and in the winter, they have been know to break ice with their hooves to drink.
Some domestic animals, unique to Lithuania and nearly extinct, are wattle pigs and the Zemaitukai horse.