Netherlands here, everytime I see a Kingfisher while kayaking, it brings a smile to my face. Usually I only see a bright blue flash, but get instant happiness.
Balkan Lynx for Serbia. There are apparently only 50 of them left in the area, and most are located in North Macedonia and South-West Serbia.
It is absolutely gorgeous and I had the honor of spotting one when I was visiting Sar Planina (Sar Mountain) during winter. Best moment of my life, absolutely a gorgeous animal 🙂
We have a handful of wolves, but the farmers will use any excuse to kill one (they have to file for permit, thankfully). Then we have mööse and roe deer, which are my favorites to encounter in the forest. We also have a number of polar bears in Svalbard
Isfugl [Kingfisher] is a small electric blue and orange bird famous for its diving abilities. The Mute Swan might be our national bird, but they are common as dirt. When ever I am fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of a Kingfisher I always stop and take time to admire it – Both for the Kingfisher’s impressive agility and speed and its outstanding beauty.
The magpie I would say. I’ve always thought that they look very elegant and aerodynamic with their black and white pattern and the blue-greenish reflections.
We call tailcoats “magpie-tails”, that’s how elegant they are.
I have a garden with lots of (wild) flowers and I love to see all the dozens of butterflies and bees that visit my garden in the summer. It always makes my day, sitting in my garden, drinking my coffee and watch all those lovely insects dancing through my flowers.
We don’t have many, unfortunately, but the caracal is a gorgeous animal. I also love the bottlenose dolphins (I know they’re everywhere, but they make me so happy every time I see them).
Austrian here. Most beautiful bird is probably the kingfisher, as in many other European countries. For mammals, I nominate the red squirrel.
Reptilians are scarce here, and the most beautiful is probably the European green lizard, but I’m partial to the smooth snake (Coronella austriaca), I mean he’s a smooth fella, isn’t he?
Amphibians, I guess the fire salamander, but the male moor frog is a strong contender in the mating season, as the males of this species turn blue during that time.
Molluscs, the lemon snail I guess or for another one named after Austria’s capital (Vindobona in Latin), the larger Viennese snail (Caucasotachea vindobonensis).
Insects, definitely the alpine longhorn beetle (Rosalia alpina), though sadly I’ve never seen one myself. Many beautiful butterflies as well, but these appear more widely throughout Europe and Asia. E.g. Aglais io which is very common here.
Not everyone will agree I’m sure, but for me, it’s the European bison. It’s not an obvious beauty perhaps, but they feel magical to me, probably because they’re so rare and had been extinct not long ago, so they seem almost mythical.
The wisent because they are so rare. It always brings to mind pre-civilization Europe. I’m from Romania but they are most numerous in Poland I think. Wild populations have been established after almost being extinct and going through conservation efforts for a century.
The wolf. There is a reason nearly every northern European culture has some legend about the wolf. Unfortunately they’ve almost gone extinct, and just when they’re starting to recover a lot of politicians want to kill them all.
Since we are smack in the middle of Europe, many animals here are also found elsewhere. There are only few endemic species like Lumbicus badensis, which I don’t find particularly beautiful. Since there aren’t a lot of answers listing insects yet, here are a few I like:
I have a soft spot for the Iberian magpie because it thrives where I lived. It’s only found in the Iberian peninsula and it’s an evolutionary mistery. It’s closest relative is found in… china 🤨
The European hoopoe and the European bee eater are also wondrous.
The Grey seal, not specific to England of course but just off the coast on the Farne Islands there is a colony of thousands in the Spring and Summer months.
A red stag is, of course, Scottish As Fuck ™, but there’s something really nice about watching a red squirrel darting about native woodland here (both are in relatively short supply though unfortunately)
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Probably the Iberian Lynx for Spain.
Netherlands here, everytime I see a Kingfisher while kayaking, it brings a smile to my face. Usually I only see a bright blue flash, but get instant happiness.
Probably the mute swan. But to be fair, that is also because it is the national bird of Denmark.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mute_swan
Balkan Lynx for Serbia. There are apparently only 50 of them left in the area, and most are located in North Macedonia and South-West Serbia.
It is absolutely gorgeous and I had the honor of spotting one when I was visiting Sar Planina (Sar Mountain) during winter. Best moment of my life, absolutely a gorgeous animal 🙂
We have a handful of wolves, but the farmers will use any excuse to kill one (they have to file for permit, thankfully). Then we have mööse and roe deer, which are my favorites to encounter in the forest. We also have a number of polar bears in Svalbard
I’m quite fond of starlings and robins, but they’re not unique to Ireland.
I guess the Irish hare is a beautiful animal and unique to the island.
Isfugl [Kingfisher] is a small electric blue and orange bird famous for its diving abilities. The Mute Swan might be our national bird, but they are common as dirt. When ever I am fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of a Kingfisher I always stop and take time to admire it – Both for the Kingfisher’s impressive agility and speed and its outstanding beauty.
Not specific to my country but the european green lizard is absolutely gorgeous when seen in person. Pictures don’t do it justice.
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Humans.
Such strange, yet intriguing creatures. Nature tells them to cooperate, culture tells them to wage war… I will never get used to them
The magpie I would say. I’ve always thought that they look very elegant and aerodynamic with their black and white pattern and the blue-greenish reflections.
We call tailcoats “magpie-tails”, that’s how elegant they are.
In Norway I would say it could be “Fossekall” (Cinclus cinclus)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-throated_dipper
I have a garden with lots of (wild) flowers and I love to see all the dozens of butterflies and bees that visit my garden in the summer. It always makes my day, sitting in my garden, drinking my coffee and watch all those lovely insects dancing through my flowers.
We don’t have many, unfortunately, but the caracal is a gorgeous animal. I also love the bottlenose dolphins (I know they’re everywhere, but they make me so happy every time I see them).
I find the bee-eater to be an absolutely beautiful bird. It’s the most colourful native bird in Portugal.
I’m also partial to kingfisher, which are very common in my home region.
If we’re going for bugs, my favorite is beautiful demoiselle, it’s like a shooting dart of blue, hurtling across rivers and ponds.
I don’t know why, I find naturally blue animals, like these, fascinating
Italy here. If I was from Liguria, I would say the ocellated lizard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocellated_lizard
Unfortunately I’ve never seen those, so I must settle with either the green lizard, the red fox or the golden eagle
The azores noctule, from portugal. maybe its not the most beautiful animal in the country but its the only one I saw 💀
We have some super cool birds in Poland
Dudek or Eurasian hoopoe https://jestemnaptak.pl/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Dudek-1-1-1-1-1200×872.jpg
Zimorodek or Eurasian kingfisher
https://ptakroku.pl/media/djcatalog2/images/item/1/ptak-zimorodek-ptak-alcedo-atthis_f.jpg
Kraska or roller
https://otop.org.pl/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/10-drozdz.jpg
Żołna or European bee-eater
https://ptaki.info/imgekoprojekty/image/ptaki/komentarze/766.jpg
We have some cool animals like European bisons, lynxes, Brown bears or wildcats but I don’t think anyone here knows about our cool birds 🙂
Insects are animals mate, sadly.
hexapoda(insects)>arthropoda>protostomia>animalia
That’s very roughly the overview.
To answer your question, I’d have to say the moose. Can’t beat the king of the forest.
Pine Martens are the cutest little murder machines
Austrian here. Most beautiful bird is probably the kingfisher, as in many other European countries. For mammals, I nominate the red squirrel.
Reptilians are scarce here, and the most beautiful is probably the European green lizard, but I’m partial to the smooth snake (Coronella austriaca), I mean he’s a smooth fella, isn’t he?
Amphibians, I guess the fire salamander, but the male moor frog is a strong contender in the mating season, as the males of this species turn blue during that time.
Molluscs, the lemon snail I guess or for another one named after Austria’s capital (Vindobona in Latin), the larger Viennese snail (Caucasotachea vindobonensis).
Insects, definitely the alpine longhorn beetle (Rosalia alpina), though sadly I’ve never seen one myself. Many beautiful butterflies as well, but these appear more widely throughout Europe and Asia. E.g. Aglais io which is very common here.
If wild then the great bustard.
If insect, then saturnia pyri.
Otherwise the Hungarian Grey cattle.
Finland is one of the westernmost habitat of Siberian flying squirrel. They are so cute they look almost cartoonish. Another similar “cartoonish cute” animal in Finland is long-tailed tit and I guess also Finnish lapphunds could be called as “cartoonishly cute”.
Not everyone will agree I’m sure, but for me, it’s the European bison. It’s not an obvious beauty perhaps, but they feel magical to me, probably because they’re so rare and had been extinct not long ago, so they seem almost mythical.
Aglais io, but you can find those all over Europe, so for something a bit more unique I guess I would say Lynx lynx.
I don’t know if we have endemic species in France but my choice would go to the fire salamander and the stoat
I also like cats and ravens but I guess OP is asking for less common animals.
My personal favourite has to be the Eichelhäher, or Eurasian Jay. Their patterns are sinple but very pretty.
The wisent because they are so rare. It always brings to mind pre-civilization Europe. I’m from Romania but they are most numerous in Poland I think. Wild populations have been established after almost being extinct and going through conservation efforts for a century.
The wolf. There is a reason nearly every northern European culture has some legend about the wolf. Unfortunately they’ve almost gone extinct, and just when they’re starting to recover a lot of politicians want to kill them all.
Since we are smack in the middle of Europe, many animals here are also found elsewhere. There are only few endemic species like Lumbicus badensis, which I don’t find particularly beautiful. Since there aren’t a lot of answers listing insects yet, here are a few I like:
Anoplotrupes stercorosus , the Dor Beetle. Beautiful shimmering dark blue colour.
Papilio machaon, the Swallowtail.
Melolontha melolontha. The Cockchafer/Maybug. Pretty fond of these, probably for cultural reasons.
Norway: Maybe a boring answer, but for me it’s the polar bear. They’re my favourite animal, I find them gorgeous and majestic
I have a soft spot for the Iberian magpie because it thrives where I lived. It’s only found in the Iberian peninsula and it’s an evolutionary mistery. It’s closest relative is found in… china 🤨
The European hoopoe and the European bee eater are also wondrous.
The Grey seal, not specific to England of course but just off the coast on the Farne Islands there is a colony of thousands in the Spring and Summer months.
I always smile when I see a hummingbird hawk-moth.Â
But generally I think all animals are beautiful in their own way.Â
Except ticks. Ticks can get fucked.Â
I can find beauty in sooo many species but the fire salamander is definitely in my top 5. I have yet to see one in nature, though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_salamander
The European bee-eater is a beautiful bird. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bienenfresser_(Familie)
A red stag is, of course, Scottish As Fuck ™, but there’s something really nice about watching a red squirrel darting about native woodland here (both are in relatively short supply though unfortunately)
It depends on the animal. I’m an outdoorsman/zoology student, so I can not just pick one
Mammal : Broc – Badger (a very handsome animal)
Bird : CruidÃn – Kingfisher
Fish : Ballach Mhuire – Cuckoo wrasse (particularly the breeding male)
Insect : Leamna hImpire – Emperor Moth (particularly the breeding male, but the female is still quite flashing)
Amphibian : Earc sl̩ibhe РSmooth newt (paticularly the breeding male)
Reptile : Earc luachra – Viviparous lizard (particularly the green variants found around sand dunes).