European bison

Rare card · No. 37401

The European bison (pl.: bison) (Bison bonasus) or the European wood bison, also known as the wisent ( or ), the zubr (), or sometimes colloquially as the European buffalo, is a European species of bison. It is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the American bison. The European bison is the heaviest wild land animal in Europe, and individuals in the past may have been even larger than their modern-day descendants. During late antiquity and the Middle Ages, bison became extinct in most of Europe and Asia, surviving into the 20th century only in northern-central Europe and the northern Caucasus Mountains. During the early years of the 20th century, the remaining bison were hunted to extinction in the wild, with domestic bison later reintroduced into the wild. By the late 2010s, the species numbered several thousand and had been returned to the wild by captive breeding programmes. It is no longer in immediate danger of extinction, but remains absent from most of its historical range...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0