The funds will support field research in 42 countries, the EMF said in an announcement on 2 September.

Data collection is needed “to determine the distribution of around 270 mammal species in Europe, covering an area of 11,442,500 km2”.

“Thousands of people throughout Europe are contributing to the data collection,” the foundation stated. It also said: “Knowing the distribution of species is essential for their protection.”

The EMF wrote:

“Sponsoring is urgently needed to buy materials such as wildlife cameras and footprint tunnels to identify mammal presence, and to cover other costs. This is especially true to support scientists in countries where hardly any governmental support is available, but which hold the highest species diversity of mammals, many of them endangered.”

The European Mammal Foundation said on its website that it was founded in 1988 in order to publish the first “Atlas of European Mammals” (which came out in 1999 and is now out of print). Among the outfit’s objectives is “to encourage the study and conservation of European mammals”. The foundation’s board secretary is the Luxembourg scientist Laurent Schley.

Pictured: European red squirrel. Photo credit: Gianni del Bianco via European Mammal Foundation

The second edition of the “Atlas of European Mammals” is set to be released in 2024. The organisation said: “... for each species, there will be a beautiful color photograph, a distribution map and a short text with interesting information on the species, written by a specialist.”

The group is asking for donations to be made via its website.