Are there wolves in Iceland? How about snakes? Any frogs? No mosquitos, right?

The Icelandic fauna is scant in terms of variety. For instance, the island is entirely free from any local and free-roaming varieties of reptiles and amphibians! Who wants snakes anyway and to be kept awake by frogs and toads quacking? No,we‘re proud of meager and yet sufficient selection: our two types of mice, two types of rats and the arctic fox. They made it here, across the seas, on their own merit. One brought the plague with them in 1402, but it wasn‘t their fault.

Since then the reindeer has joined this little elite group of Icelandic mammals. Later, mink was introduced and most recently, rabbits. So we‘re up to six species: mice, rats, foxes, mink,reindeer and rabbits. The relatively friendly nature of animals living in Iceland is why you can camp anywhere, lie safe in the grass, and save on the insect repellent.

The often poor weather conditions may place your enjoyment and safety in Iceland in jeopardy. But our fauna is good-natured and not out to get you! Generally speaking.

Over the next few weeks we‘ll give you a brief overview of the local fauna, our polite local and imported land mammals, along with related vocabulary and grammar.

First up (well, next week; we have to pace ourselves ;) ): a fairly recent arrival, seemingly innocent, very cute, yet officially considered a pest. Can you guess which animal we're referring to?

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