New species in Sweden
Immigrants
Virtually all plants and animals in the Swedish landscape are immigrants. After the latest ice age, about 10,000 years ago, species began to migrate into Scandinavia as the climate became warmer.
New species
New species are still arriving today. One example is the collared dove; it was first sighted in 1949, in Halland County. Another is the map butterfly which has been seen in Skåne and neighbouring counties since the early 1980s.
Mild winters
It is not known why the collared dove came to Sweden. But the map butterfly has probably benefited from the mild winters here since the 1980s.
Along with humans
Many species have accompanied humans to Sweden, sometimes
purposely imported,as in the case of the Canada goose and the giant hogweed. Other times it may be unintentional (often via transport), as in the case of the brown rat and the Lusitanian slug.
