Card game to help conserve rare species

Playground favourite Top Trumps has been recreated with a wildlife theme to help support species in the UK, the National Trust has revealed.

The cards feature 30 species ranging from the adder to the raft spider, which lives in wet marshy spots in southern England, as well as the threatened red squirrel and the basking shark.

Children can trump each other's cards by getting top points for animals' rarity, lifespan, ferocity, mobility or their "gross out" factor – for which the endangered white-clawed crayfish, the jellyfish, basking shark and pike all score highly.

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The 30 creatures were selected by wildlife experts at the National Trust, and the cards feature weird and wonderful facts about them – including the pike's ability to kill and eat small ducks.

The game aims to help children and parents develop a love for UK wildlife and all proceeds from the sale of the packs will go to supporting the National Trust's conservation work.

Matthew Oates, conservation adviser for the Trust who helped pick the featured wildlife, said: "Not all the animals in this pack are pretty, many can be mean and nasty, but none of them are boring."

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