Wikipedia
The European bison (Bison bonasus), also known as wisent ( or ) or the European wood bison, is a Eurasian species of bison. It is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the American bison. Three subspecies have existed in the past, but only one survives today.
European bison were hunted to extinction in the wild in the early 20th century, with the last wild animals of the B. b. bonasus species being shot in the Białowieża Forest (on the Poland- Belarus border) in 1921, and the B. b. caucasus in the northwestern Caucasus in 1927. ( B. b. hungarorum was hunted to extinction in the mid 1800s.) They have since been reintroduced from captivity into several countries in Europe, all descendants of the Białowieża or lowland European bison. They are now forest-dwelling. They have few predators (besides humans), with only scattered reports from the 19th century of wolf and bear predation. European bison were first scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Some later descriptions treat the European bison as conspecific with the American bison. It is not to be confused with the aurochs, the extinct ancestor of domestic cattle.
In 1996, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classified the European bison as an endangered species. Its status has since been changed to being a vulnerable species. In the past, especially during the Middle Ages, it was commonly killed for its hide, and to produce drinking horns.
Usage examples of "european bison".
Plus several big brown bears, a distant glimpse of wolves looking curiously back from a ridgeline, a sure-enough group of wisent, European bison, and black, bristling-fierce wild boar out grazing on fallen acorns.
Noted for its attempts to preserve many of the planet's endangered species, it houses such diverse specimens as Pere David's deer and the European bison, not to mention a variety of rare rodents, snakes, and insects.
There were aurochs-European bison, somewhat like the American ".