Conservationists argue that mammals like European bison play a significant role in shaping ecosystems. Much as American bison have played a role in grassland management on Nature Conservancy preserves in North America, European bison are now shaping forests and open areas in Germany, France, Spain and other countries
The mention of bison roaming conjures images of specific places: Yellowstone and the Badlands, the Great Plains and prairie preserves. The wide-open spaces of North America, past and present. But Europe? Chances are, your mind does not connect bison and Europe.
But yes, there are bison in Europe. In fact, story of the European bison’s rescue may be even more dramatic and more perilous than the more well-known saga of the North American bison’s near-miss with extinction.
The European bison, or wisent, resembles the North American bison, but it’s not as shaggy, has a lankier appearance and has curved horns that bring to mind domestic cows. There is a lot about the species we don’t know. By the time scientists and naturalists began studying it, only 50 or so animals remained in the world. As such, biologists had only an incomplete picture: they were studying the survivors, the most adaptable of the species clinging on in remote refuges.
As such, there’s a lot of missing information on the wisent’s natural history, habits and habitat. But growing interest in the animal in recent years has offered new understandings about the European bison’s past – and could help shape a hopeful future for Europe’s largest remaining land mammal.
European Bison Under Siege
As the famous cave paintings attest, large herds of wild mammals once roamed Europe. But human settlement and agriculture displaced or eliminated many of these species. Humans pushed European bison to the few remaining patches of wilderness on the continent.
By the 20th century, against long odds, two populations still survived. One, in the remote Northern Caucasus Mountains of Russia, contained only a small number of individuals. A more viable population survived in Poland’s Białowieża Forest, a long-time protected reserve. In the mid-16th century, a Polish king instituted the death penalty for poaching a bison; restrictive laws remained in place with succeeding rulers.
This actually didn’t stop poaching, but a relatively large herd of some 600 bison remained. But when there is a single, isolated population of a species, it makes it highly vulnerable to threats. A single calamity can change the fate of the species. This is a recurring theme in conservation science. It nearly spelled doom for the wisent.
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Wild Bison Return to Europe After a Century
European bison went extinct in the wild in 1919, but now a few thousand are back, grazing in forests and on plains in a handful of countries. The first four of a group of 11 animals—Europe’s largest living land animal—were reintroduced into state forest land in the Netherlands earlier this month.
The Dutch government hopes the carefully bred and selected animals—three bulls and eight cows—will multiply. (See photos of bison.)
Fenced inside an area about 1,500 hectares in the southeastern province ofNoord-Brabant, the European bison (Bison bonasus) herd will eventually serve as a breeding stock to supply efforts to “rewild” other parts of the continent, says Frans Schepers, the managing director of the Netherlands-based nonprofit Rewilding Europe. The group oversees breeding of the bison, based on animals that lived on in zoos after they were wiped out in the wild.
This latest project marks the second reintroduction of bison into the Netherlands, with the first taking place in the Kraansvlak nature reserve in the province of Noord-Holland in 2007.
The species has been selected for such rewilding efforts because of the important role it plays in establishing the ecosystem of Europe’s forests and plains, Schepers notes. (Learn more about rewilding in the U.K.)
“Rewilding is not just about putting animals back,” says Schepers. “It’s about allowing natural processes to take over as much as possible.”
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Poland’s pride – the European bison
It is not a coincidence that the European bison, a close cousin of the American bison, is dubbed the king of the wilderness. An adult bull weighs up to 900 kilograms and its height at withers can reach 180 cm. Charging, it can reach speeds of up to 40 km/h, and both the male and female boast impressive horns, which they never shed. A few thousand years ago, these majestic creatures roamed across Europe. However, hundreds of years of hunting drove the species the brink of extinction. The last wild European bison became extinct at the beginning of the 20th century.
Intensive breeding programmes conducted by zoological gardens helped to save Europe’s largest mammal. The first European bison were released into the wild in Bialowieza Forest back in 1929. As a result, the forest is now home to the world’s largest herd of these animals, consisting of around 500 wisents. Although still very rare, European bison are considered by scientists to be safe as a species.
The number of bison in the world is estimated at 5,000, half of which live in Central Europe. In Poland, three quarters of the local population of these great mammals live in the wild. You can come across them not only in Bialowieza Forest, but also in the Bieszczady Mountains, in Masuria and in West Pomerania.
The best time to watch bison in their natural habitat is the winter – this is when they gather in larger herds and leave visible tracks in the snow. One should bear in mind that wild, agitated or frightened animals can cause serious injury. That is why it is best to watch them from a safe distance, equipped with binoculars.
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The Palace Complex in Kurozwęki, Swietokrzyskie, Poland
http://www.kurozweki.com/pl/atrakcje/safari-bizon
Bison breeding in Kurozwęki.
The bison were brought to Kurozwęki in December 2000 for breeding and agritourism purposes. After obtaining permits from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and local government authorities, 20 heifers and 2 bulls were brought from the largest breeding farm in Europe, “Bison d’Ardenne” in Belgium. The herd is part of the Horse Stud in Kurozwęki and is supervised by the official veterinarian and research and development institutions of the Agricultural University in Krakow and the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. The herd underwent compulsory quarantine (about 1 month) and was settled in the meadows near the palace in Kurozwęki. Our herd of bison can be seen in natural conditions and at the same time historical surroundings; you can visit the farm on foot or by driving inside the farm in a western “safari-buffalo” car. You can listen to the guide’s stories about their history and current anecdotes related to them. Everything indicates that the herd has acclimatized to our area without any problems. Since the establishment of the breeding farm, we have managed to have over 60 young and every year we have more. Small, fair-haired buffalo can be seen every year from around May. In total, we already have over 80 individuals.
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Rewilding Europe – Bringing back the bison, Europe’s largest wild land mammal
Back from the brink
The comeback of the European bison is one of Europe’s most heartening wildlife recovery stories. Once widespread across the continent, this magnificent animal was driven to the edge of extinction in the early twentieth century by hunting and habitat loss.
When the last wild European bison was shot in the Caucasus in 1927, there were less than 60 individuals alive in zoo and private parks. From the 1950s onwards, European bison began to be reintroduced back into the wild.
Free-ranging herds are currently found in many European countries, including Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Belarus and Lithuania. The Białowieża Primeval Forest, an ancient woodland that straddles the Poland-Belarus border, continues to host the world’s largest free-living population, with around 1000 wild bison.
STAFFAN WIDSTRAND / REWILDING EUROPE
A symbol for Europe
Many people connect bison with wide, open spaces of North America, where the animals used to roam in their tens of millions before being hunted to near extinction. But bison also exist in Europe; the European bison, or wisent, once inhabited much of the European continent – from the Massif Central region of France in the west, to the Volga, the Caucasus and beyond in the east, before populations were decimated by hunting.
Rewilding Europe supports the efforts to bring back the European bison to its ancestral lands. Establishing new wild bison populations in several of our rewilding areas, and assisting the return of bison also to other places in Europe.
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Report and species description
World Wildlife Fund – European Bison – Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan
https://www.wwf.pl/sites/default/files/2019-09/Action%20Plan_Pucek%20et%20al..pdf
Bison bonasus – European bison (Also: wisent)
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Bison_bonasus/
