The Carpathian wisent (''Bison bonasus hungarorum'') was a
subspecies of the
European bison that inhabited the
Carpathian Mountains,
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centra ...
and
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the ...
. It may also have lived in what are today
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...
and
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...
.
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
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the ...
. Humans encroached on its habitat and overhunted the bison. The last Carpathian wisent was shot in
Máramaros in 1852. The subspecies is now entirely extinct.
Wisents descended from the Polish population were
reintroduced into the southern Carpathians by
Rewilding Europe and the
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...
starting in 2014. The
rewilding area hosted a population of 30 animals by the end of 2017.
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
*
List of extinct animals of Europe
This list of European animals extinct in the Holocene features animals known to have become extinct in the last 12,000 years on the European continent and its surrounding islands.
Dependent territories of European countries in other continents, ...
References
External links
The Extinction Website - Carpathian European Bison - ''Bison bonasus hungarorum''
Bison
Extinct mammals of Europe
Species made extinct by human activities
Mammal extinctions since 1500
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