Wisent

Bison bonasus. Also European bison. Bialowieza, Poland. 2005. Calf: Schönbrunn Zoo. 1923.

Unlike most of the exhibits at the NHM, the wisent group is shown in surroundings that seem realistic. The adult animals come from a sanctuary in Bialowieza.

UNCERTAIN FUTURE
Since the eradication of the aurochs, the wisent is the only European bison species and is also the largest and heaviest land mammal in Europe. Its closest relative is the American bison. It does not appear in the direct genealogy of our domesticated cattle – they are descended from the aurochs.
Until the early Middle Ages, numerous wisents roamed large parts of Europe in small herds. They were subsequently hunted extensively and their habitat destroyed by deforestation and agriculture. However, in the Bialowieza Forest in eastern Poland they could only be killed with the permission of the Polish king. In 1857, 1,900 wisents still survived there! After 1900 their numbers dwindled rapidly, and twenty years later not a single bison remained in Bialowieza. The last animal living in the wild was shot in the Caucasus in 1927.
When efforts were launched in about 1920 to preserve the species, Bialowieza again played a decisive role. The offspring of the wisents that had been given by Bialowieza to zoos and vivaria in the 19th century formed the basis for further breeding. Today, one of the most important wisent preserves is in Bialowieza National Park.
Although their number has since risen again to more than 2,000 and they are settled in more than 30 sanctuaries, the future of the last European bison is not completely secure. All wisents living today descend from only twelve animals, and there are regular cases of disorders that are most probably due to in-breeding. No one can predict what the impact of this negligible genetic diversity will be in the long term.