Editing European bison (section)

===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>