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 | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | Bovidae |
Subfamily: | Bovinae |
Genus: | Bison |
Species: | |
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]
Lowland wisents from Poland 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]
See also
References
- "După 200 de ani, zimbrul se întoarce în Carpaţi FOTOGALERII". archive.is. 23 March 2012. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012.
- 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.
- "Southern Carpathians". Rewilding Europe.
External links
- The Extinction Website - Carpathian European Bison - Bison bonasus hungarorum.
- European bison / Wisent