Editing European bison (section)

==History==
===Prehistory===
[[File:Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain-110113.jpg|thumb|Bison depicted at [[cave of Altamira]]]]The similar skeletal morphology of the wisent with the [[steppe bison]] (''Bison priscus'') which also formerly inhabited Europe complicates the understanding of the early evolution of the European bison. It is thought that European bison [[Genetic divergence|genetically diverged]] from steppe bison (as well as modern American bison, which are descended from steppe bison) at least 100,000 years ago.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last1=Grange |first1=Thierry |last2=Brugal |first2=Jean-Philip |last3=Flori |first3=Laurence |last4=Gautier |first4=Mathieu |last5=Uzunidis |first5=Antigone |last6=Geigl |first6=Eva-Maria |date=September 2018 |title=The Evolution and Population Diversity of Bison in Pleistocene and Holocene Eurasia: Sex Matters |journal=Diversity |language=en |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=65 |doi=10.3390/d10030065 |doi-access=free}}</ref> While nuclear DNA indicates that the two living bison species are each other's closest living relatives, the [[mitochondrial DNA]] of European bison is more closely related to that of [[aurochs]] and their domestic cattle descendants, which is suggested to be the result of either [[incomplete lineage sorting]] or ancient [[introgression]].<ref name=":4" />

Genetic evidence indicates that European bison were present across Europe, from Spain (where a [[sedimentary ancient DNA]] record is known from [[El Mirón Cave|El Miron Cave]] in [[Cantabria]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gelabert |first=Pere |last2=Oberreiter |first2=Victoria |last3=Straus |first3=Lawrence Guy |last4=Morales |first4=Manuel Ramón González |last5=Sawyer |first5=Susanna |last6=Marín-Arroyo |first6=Ana B. |last7=Geiling |first7=Jeanne Marie |last8=Exler |first8=Florian |last9=Brueck |first9=Florian |last10=Franz |first10=Stefan |last11=Cano |first11=Fernanda Tenorio |last12=Szedlacsek |first12=Sophie |last13=Zelger |first13=Evelyn |last14=Hämmerle |first14=Michelle |last15=Zagorc |first15=Brina |date=2025-01-02 |title=A sedimentary ancient DNA perspective on human and carnivore persistence through the Late Pleistocene in El Mirón Cave, Spain |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-55740-7?fbclid=IwY2xjawHmHAxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHW52PJoQtWLAMBpisLnNtdZtEmt0XHD9AFfDPvlopgFpqDGSzaqJznEm0Q_aem_ePeQ-mZnwS9svpa8635CeA |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=107 |doi=10.1038/s41467-024-55740-7 |issn=2041-1723 |pmc=11696082 |doi-access=free}}</ref><sup>supplemental material</sup>)  to the Caucasus during the [[Last Glacial Period]], where they co-existed alongside steppe bison.<ref name=":5" /> [[Cave painting]]s appear to distinguish between ''B. bonasus'' and ''B. priscus''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Soubrier |first=Julien |last2=Gower |first2=Graham |last3=Chen |first3=Kefei |last4=Richards |first4=Stephen M. |last5=Llamas |first5=Bastien |last6=Mitchell |first6=Kieren J. |last7=Ho |first7=Simon Y. W. |last8=Kosintsev |first8=Pavel |last9=Lee |first9=Michael S. Y. |last10=Baryshnikov |first10=Gennady |last11=Bollongino |first11=Ruth |last12=Bover |first12=Pere |last13=Burger |first13=Joachim |last14=Chivall |first14=David |last15=Crégut-Bonnoure |first15=Evelyne |date=2016-10-18 |title=Early cave art and ancient DNA record the origin of European bison |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13158 |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=13158 |doi=10.1038/ncomms13158 |issn=2041-1723|hdl=1885/146571 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> [[Late Pleistocene]] European bison belong to two [[mitochondrial genome]] lineages, which one study estimated to have split around 400,000 years ago, Bb1 (also known as Bison X, and sometimes controversially attributed to the species ''[[Bison schoetensacki]],'' which is otherwise known from remains hundreds of thousands of years older<ref name=":4" />) and Bb2. Bb1 has been found across Europe spanning from France to the Caucasus, while Bb2 was originally only found in the Caucasus before expanding westwards from around 14,000 years ago. Bb1 became extinct at the end of the Late Pleistocene, with all modern European bison belonging to the Bb2 lineage.<ref name=":4" /> At the end of the Last Glacial Period steppe bison became extinct in Europe, leaving European bison as the only bison species in the region.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last1=Zver |first1=Lars |last2=Toškan |first2=Borut |last3=Bužan |first3=Elena |date=September 2021 |title=Phylogeny of Late Pleistocene and Holocene Bison species in Europe and North America |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618221002421 |journal=Quaternary International |language=en |volume=595 |pages=30–38 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2021.04.022|bibcode=2021QuInt.595...30Z }}</ref>

While some studies have estimated that modern European bison derive 10% of their ancestry from aurochs via interspecies gene flow, other authors have considered this a gross overstimate and based on flawed data, and not supported by the data from the full nuclear genome of the wisent, and that the actual contribution from aurochs/cattle around 2.4-3.2%, which is suggested to have occurred in the last 70,000 years.<ref name=":4" />

Historically, the lowland European bison's range encompassed most of the lowlands of northern Europe, extending from the [[Massif Central]] to the [[Volga River]] and the [[Caucasus]]. It may have once lived in the Asiatic part of what is now the [[Russian Federation]], reaching to [[Lake Baikal]] and [[Altai Mountains]] in east.<ref>Taras Petrovich Sipko, 2009, ''[http://www.smz.waw.pl/wydawnictwa/biuletyn2/20_Sipko.pdf European bison in Russia – past, present and future] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902215257/https://www.smz.waw.pl/wydawnictwa/biuletyn2/20_Sipko.pdf |date=2 September 2022 }}'' (pdf) the European Bison Conservation Newsletter Vol 2 (2009), pp.148–159, the Institute of Problems Ecology and Evolution RAS, Retrieved on October 18, 2022</ref> The European bison is known in southern Sweden only between 9500 and 8700 [[Before Present|BP]], and in Denmark similarly is documented only from the [[Pre-Boreal]].<ref>The Holocene distribution of European bison – the archaeozoological record. Norbert Benecke. Munibe (Antropologia_Arkeologia) 57 421–428 2005. {{ISSN|1132-2217}}. Refers to Liljegren R. and Ekstrom J., 1996. The terrestrial late Glacial fauna in south Sweden. In L. Larsson (Hrsg). The earliest settlement of Scandinavia and its relationship with neighbouring areas. Acta Archaeologica Lundensia 8, 24, 135–139, Stockholm.</ref> It is not recorded from the [[British Isles]], nor from [[Italy]] or the [[Iberian Peninsula]] during the Holocene.<ref name=Euskomedia>{{cite web |url=http://www.euskomedia.org/PDFAnlt/munibe/aa/200501421428.pdf |title=The Holocene distribution of European bison-the archaeozoological record. |access-date=30 November 2015 |archive-date=8 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208103341/http://www.euskomedia.org/PDFAnlt/munibe/aa/200501421428.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Antiquity and Middle Ages===
Within mainland Europe, its range decreased as human populations expanded and cut down forests. They seemed to be common in [[Aristotle]]'s period on Mount Mesapion (possibly the modern [[Ograzhden (mountain)|Ograzhden]]).<ref name=Arist4th /> In the same wider area [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] calling them ''[[Paeonians|Paeonian]] bulls'' and ''bison'', gives details on how they were captured alive; adding also the fact that a golden Paeonian bull head was offered to [[Delphi]] by the Paeonian king Dropion (3rd century BC) who lived in what is today [[Tikveš]].<ref>Παυσανίας 2nd cent A.D.: Ελλάδος περιήγησης. Φωκικά, Λοκρών Οζόλων.</ref> The last references ([[Oppian]], [[Claudius Aelianus]]) to the animal in the transitional [[Mediterranean biogeographical region|Mediterranean]]/[[Continental biogeographical region]] in the Balkans in the area of modern borderline between [[Greece]], [[North Macedonia]] and [[Bulgaria]] date to the 3rd century AD.<ref>Douglas, N. 1927: Birds and Beasts of the Greek Anthology. Florence.</ref><ref>Kitchell, K.F. 2013: Animals in the Ancient Word from A to Z.</ref> In northern [[Bulgaria]], the wisent was thought to have survived until the 9th or 10th century AD, but more recent data summary shows that the species survived up to 13th - 14th century AD in eastern Bulgaria and up to 16th - 17th century AD in the northern part of the country.<ref>Spassov, N., Iliev, N. 1986: Bone remains of Wisent (Bison bonasus L.) in the medieval
settlement near the Garvan village, Silistra District (new researches). In: Vazharova,
Zh. The Medieval Settlement at Garvan Village, Silistra District, 4th–11th century A. D.,
Sofia, Publ. House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 68.</ref><ref>Boev, Ζ. 2022: European bison (Bison bonasus Linnaeus, 1758) in Bulgaria: fossil and historical records, distribution, and disappearance. Journal of Wildlife and Biodiversity 6(1): 92-99.</ref> There is a possibility that the species' range extended to [[East Thrace]] during the 7th–8th century AD.<ref>Onar, V., Soubrier, J., Toker, N.Y., Loenen, v.A., Llamas, B., Siddiq, B.A., Pasicka, E. & M. Tokarska 2016: Did the historical range of the European bison (''Bison bonasus'' L.) extend further south?—a new finding from the Yenikapı Metro and Marmaray excavation, Turkey. Mammal Research 62(1): 103–109.</ref> Its population in [[Gaul]] was extinct in the 8th century AD. The species survived in the [[Ardennes]] and the [[Vosges Mountains]] until the 15th century.<ref name="pucek">''European Bison (Bison bonasus): Current State of the Species and Strategy for Its Conservation'' By Zdzsław Pucek, Published by Council of Europe, 2004, {{ISBN|92-871-5549-6}}, 978-92-871-5549-8</ref> In the [[Early Middle Ages]], the wisent apparently still occurred in the forest steppes east of the Urals, in the [[Altai Mountains]], and seems to have reached [[Lake Baikal]] in the east. The northern boundary in the Holocene was probably around 60°N in Finland.<ref name="Sipko">Sipko, T., P. (2009). ''European bison in Russia – past, present and future.'' European Bison Conservation Newsletter Vol 2, pp: 148–159</ref> European bison survived in a few natural forests in Europe, but their numbers dwindled.

===Early Modern period===
[[File:CaucasianBison-Demidoff1898.png|upright=1.0|thumb|A specimen of the now-extinct [[Caucasian wisent|Caucasian subspecies]], 1889]]
In 1513 the [[Białowieża Forest]], at this point one of the last areas on Earth where the European bison still roamed free, was transferred from the [[Trakai Voivodeship|Troki Voivodeship]] of [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuania]] to the [[Podlaskie Voivodeship (1513–1795)|Podlaskie Voivodeship]], which after the [[Union of Lublin]] became part of the Polish Crown. In the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], at first European bison in the Białowieża Forest were legally the property of the [[Grand Dukes of Lithuania]] and later belonged to the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland]]. Polish-Lithuanian rulers took measures to protect the European bison, such as King [[Sigismund II Augustus]] who instituted the [[death penalty]] for [[poaching]] bison in Białowieża in the mid-16th century. Wild European bison herds existed in the forest until the mid-17th century. In 1701, King [[Augustus II the Strong]] greatly increased protection over the forest; the first written sources mentioning the use of some forest meadows for the production of winter fodder for the bison come from this period.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Samojlik|editor-first=Tomasz|date=2005|title=Ochrona i Łowy. Puszcza Białowieska w czasach królewskich|location=Białowieża|publisher=Zakład Badania Ssaków Polskiej Akademii Nauk|isbn=83-907521-5-8}}</ref> In the early 19th century, after the [[Partitions of Poland|partitions of the Polish Commonwealth]], the [[List of Russian rulers|Russian tsars]] retained old Polish-Lithuanian laws protecting the European bison herd in Białowieża. Despite these measures and others, the European bison population continued to decline over the following century, with only Białowieża and Northern Caucasus populations surviving into the 20th century.<ref name="bison" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Z. Pucek, I. P. Belousova, Z. A. Krasiński, M. Krasińska and W. Olech|date=10 October 2003|title=European bison (Bison bonasus) Current state of the species and an action plan for its conservation|url=https://wcd.coe.int/com.instranet.InstraServlet?command=com.instranet.CmdBlobGet&InstranetImage=1300780&SecMode=1&DocId=1441864&Usage=2|journal=Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats|access-date=2 May 2017|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303192440/https://wcd.coe.int/com.instranet.InstraServlet?command=com.instranet.CmdBlobGet&InstranetImage=1300780&SecMode=1&DocId=1441864&Usage=2|url-status=live}}</ref> The last European bison in [[Transylvania]] died in 1790.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bison-ebcc.eu/european-bison/|title=European Bison – Information about the species|publisher=European Bison Conservation Center|date=2018|access-date=2 December 2019|archive-date=17 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817165647/http://www.bison-ebcc.eu/european-bison/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Early 20th century===
During [[World War I]], occupying German troops killed 600 of the European bison in the Białowieża Forest for sport, meat, hides and horns.<ref name="bison"/> A German scientist informed army officers that the European bison were facing imminent extinction, but at the very end of the war, retreating German soldiers shot all but nine animals.<ref name="bison">[http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/europe/where/latvia/lake_pape/about/bison/index.cfm "Lake Pape – Bison", World Wide Fund for Nature]{{full citation needed|date=May 2013}} {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060813121256/http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/europe/where/latvia/lake_pape/about/bison/index.cfm |date=13 August 2006 }}</ref><ref name=":2" /> The last wild European bison in Poland was killed in 1921. The last wild European bison in the world was killed by poachers in 1927 in the [[western Caucasus]]. By that year, 48<ref>{{Cite web |title=The European Bison {{!}} Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve |url=https://pt-zapovednik.org/zubr/ |access-date=2022-08-13 |language=en-US |archive-date=13 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813220416/https://pt-zapovednik.org/zubr/ |url-status=live }}</ref> remained, all held by zoos. The International Society for the Preservation of the Wisent was founded on 25 and 26 August 1923 in Berlin, following the example of the [[American Bison Society]]. The first chairman was Kurt Priemel, director of the [[Frankfurt Zoo]], and among the members were experts like Hermann Pohle, [[Max Hilzheimer]] and [[Julius Riemer]]. The first goal of the society was to take stock of all living bison, in preparation for a breeding programme. Important members were the Polish Hunting Association and the [[Poznań]] zoological gardens, as well as a number of Polish private individuals, who provided funds to acquire the first bison cows and bulls. The breeding book was published in the company's annual report from 1932. While Priemel aimed to grow the population slowly with pure conservation of the breeding line, [[Lutz Heck]] planned to grow the population faster by cross-breeding with American bison in a separate breeding project in Munich, in 1934.

===World War II===
Heck gained the support of then ''Reichsjägermeister'' [[Hermann Göring]], who hoped for huntable big game.<ref>Irina Steinmann: [[Nils Seethaler]] hat zur Person Julius Riemer geforscht. In: Wittenberger Sonntag vom 10. Mai 2019.</ref> Heck promised his powerful supporter in writing: "Since surplus bulls will soon be set, the hunting of the Wisent will be possible again in the foreseeable future". Göring himself took over the patronage of the German Professional Association of Wisent Breeders and Hegers, founded at Heck's suggestion. Kurt Priemel, who had since resigned as president of the International Society for the Preservation of the Wisent, warned in vain against "manification". Heck answered by announcing that Göring would take action against Priemel if he continued to oppose his crossing plans. Priemel was then banned from publishing in relation to bison breeding, and the regular bookkeeper of the International Society, Erna Mohr, was forced to hand over the official register in 1937. Thus, the older society was effectively incorporated into the newly created Professional Association. After the Second World War, therefore, only the pure-blooded bison in the game park [[Springe]] near Hanover were recognised as part of the international herd book.<ref>Urmacher unerwünscht. Berliner Zoo. In: [[Der Spiegel]] vom 23. Juni 1954.</ref><ref>Frank G. Wörner: DER WISENT – Ein Erfolg des Artenschutzes: Notizen zur Rettung und Rückkehr eines Giganten. In: Veröffentlichungen des Tierparks [[Niederfischbach]] gemeinsam mit dem regionalen Naturschutzverein Ebertseifen Lebensräume e.&nbsp;V., 2006.</ref>

===1950s onwards===
[[File:Jan Jerzy Karpinski zubry.jpg|thumb|Białowieża Forest, 1955]]
The first two bison were released into the wild in the Białowieża Forest in 1929.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oep.neostrada.pl/restytucja.htm|title=Zagłada i restytucja żubrów|website=www.oep.neostrada.pl|access-date=1 May 2017|archive-date=17 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317090642/http://www.oep.neostrada.pl/restytucja.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> By 1964 more than 100 existed.<ref name="ley196412">{{Cite magazine|last=Ley|first=Willy|date=December 1964|title=The Rarest Animals|department=For Your Information|url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v23n02_1964-12#page/n93/mode/2up|magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction|pages=94–103}}</ref> Over the following decades, thanks to Polish and international efforts, the Białowieża Forest regained its position as the location with the world's largest population of European bison, including those in the wild.<ref name = pzł /> In 2005–2007, a wild bison nicknamed [[Pubal]] became renowned in southeast Poland due to his friendly interactions with humans and unwillingness to reintegrate into the wild.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fakty.interia.pl/podkarpackie/news-ocalony-zubr-nie-chce-zyc-na-wolnosci,nId,1130036|title=Ocalony żubr nie chce żyć na wolności|publisher=Interia|date=2007-01-02|access-date=2019-11-29|archive-date=20 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220072904/https://wydarzenia.interia.pl/|url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2014 there were 1,434 wisents in Poland, out of which 1,212 were in free-range herds and 522 belonged to the wild population in the [[Białowieża Forest]]. Compared to 2013, the total population in 2014 increased by 4.1%, while the free-ranging population increased by 6.5%.<ref name=eurowildlife /> Bison from Poland have also been transported beyond the country's borders to boost the local populations of other countries, among them Bulgaria, Spain, Romania, Czechia and others.<ref name="90l" /> Poland has been described as the world's breeding centre of the European bison,<ref name = pzł /> where the bison population doubled between 1995 and 2017, reaching 2,269 by the end of 2019<ref name="wyniki" /> – the total population has been increasing by around 15% to 18% yearly.<ref name="lbn-pż" /> In July 2022 a small population was released into woodland by Canterbury in Kent to trial their reintroduction into the UK.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-07-18 |title=Wild bison return to UK for first time in thousands of years |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/18/wild-bison-return-to-uk-for-first-time-in-thousands-of-years |access-date=2023-03-22 |website=the Guardian |language=en |archive-date=18 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718113903/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/18/wild-bison-return-to-uk-for-first-time-in-thousands-of-years |url-status=live }}</ref> In May 2024, a small population was released in central Portugal.<ref name="rcb-radiocovadabeira.pt">{{cite web | url=https://rcb-radiocovadabeira.pt/rewilding-bisontes-europeus-chegam-pela-primeira-vez-a-portugal/ | title=Rewilding: Bisontes europeus chegam pela primeira vez a Portugal | date=31 May 2024 }}</ref> In 2012 and 2019 bisons were released in protected areas on Bornholm and Northern Jutland, Denmark.[[File:EuropeanBisonLyd3.png|upright=1.0|thumb|European bison's skeleton]]