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With only 35 left in Scotland this animal's habitat is at threat of destruction


By Kirsty Brown

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Scotland is lucky to host some of the most beautiful wildlife anywhere in the world but some of these animals are under serious threat with their numbers dwindling.

Taking inspiration from the amazing work of the World Wildlife Fund, Macdonald Hotels wanted to highlight some of Scotland's most endangered animals by creating Scotland’s Pixelated Populations - highlighting the images by editing them to show as many pixels as there are animals left in the wild in Scotland.

Amongst the animals featured are wildcats and puffins.

Puffins.
Puffins.

As adults, Wildcats can weigh up to seven kilograms and sightings are quite rare as they usually can be only found in the most remote and wildest areas of the country.

There are unfortunately only 35 Wildcats left in the wild in Scotland mostly because of shrinking habitat due to human activity.

Many are shot and snared each year, despite being protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which impacts the number of Wildcats, as does hybridisation with domestic cats.

There are 570 Puffins left in the Scottish wild, with their rainbow coloured bills, Puffins are an iconic animal among the cliffs and islands around Scotland’s coastline, with large colonies around Galway and St Kilda.

Unfortunately, the Puffin population has dropped from around 33,000 to just 570 in the last 20 years.

Sand Eels are a Puffins main source of food, but rising sea temperatures have seen the eels move further way from the Puffins natural habitat.

Other animals featured in Scotland's Pixelated Populations are Bottlenose Dolphins, Capercaillies, Golden Eagles, Pine Martens,


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