Subfossil cormorant remains indicate that prehistoric populations in Europe and Asia were separated by a massive natural dispersal barrier in the Central Asian highlands, dividing the birds into two distinct populations. All evidence suggests that the westward spread of the continental great cormorant from Asia to Europe could only have occurred with human assistance, providing strong evidence that the European subspecies sinensis ssp. is not native to the Danish and European fauna.

BY JENS BURSELL, BIOLOGIST. PHOTOS: LARS LAURSEN & ADOBE STOCK

As established in part 1, there is neither subfossil nor genetic evidence demonstrating that the sinensis subspecies of the great cormorant was originally part of the Danish fauna. And since the relatively few bone finds in Denmark cannot reliably distinguish between the carbo and sinensis subspecies, the same naturally applies to the rest of Europe, where there is currently neither subfossil nor genetic evidence showing that sinensis was originally part of the native fauna….