Carpathian wisent

The Carpathian wisent (Bison bonasus hungarorum) was a subspecies of the European bison that inhabited the Carpathian Mountains, Moldavia and Transylvania. It may also have lived in what are today Ukraine and Hungary.

Carpathian wisent
Carpathian wisent on a Ukrainian coin

Extinct (1852)  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Bovinae
Genus: Bison
Species:
B. bonasus
Subspecies:
†B. b. hungarorum
Trinomial name
†Bison bonasus hungarorum
(Kretzoi, 1946)

It began to die out about a hundred years earlier than its very close cousin, the Caucasian wisent, probably because it lived nearer to the more densely populated Central Europe. Humans encroached on its habitat and overhunted the bison. The last Carpathian wisent was shot in Máramaros in 1852.[1] The subspecies is now entirely extinct.[2]

Wisents descended from the Polish population were reintroduced into the southern Carpathians by Rewilding Europe and the World Wide Fund for Nature starting in 2014. The rewilding area hosted a population of 30 animals by the end of 2017.[3]

Description

The Carpathian wisent resembled the European bison in that coat was dense and dark brown to golden brown. The neck was short, maned, and thick, topped by a shoulder hump. The head is relatively high. The horns, found in both sexes, projected outwards and curved upwards and slightly forwards.

See also

References
  1. "După 200 de ani, zimbrul se întoarce în Carpaţi FOTOGALERII". archive.is. 23 March 2012. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012.
  2. Tokarska, M.; et al. (2011). "Genetic status of the European bison Bison bonasus after extinction in the wild and subsequent recovery". Mammal Review. 41 (2): 151–162. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2907.2010.00178.x.
  3. "Southern Carpathians". Rewilding Europe.


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