The bison is large a Bovidé Ruminant of which there exist two alive species: that of North America ( Bison bison ) and that of Europe ( Bison bonasus ). The first lives primarily in the North-American Steppe S while second is forest.

The relations between the two species currently living are not completely clear. They are without question very close, since they make fertile Hybride S. It seems that the fertility of the hybrids is the same one as that of the nonhybrid animals. There exist herds of hybrids besides living in freedom in the Russian Caucasus since the years 1950. It would thus be necessary to regard Bison bison and Bison bonasus two Sous-espèce S, and not as two distinct species. Certain biologists defend this position besides, but the majority of the authors however always consider that the two groups are distinct species.

Origin of the kind

It is generally allowed that the Bison finds its origin in South Asia. Forms former to the kind Bison are identified with the recent Pliocène: Probison dehmi and Protobison kushkunensis coming from India, and Eobison degiulii , coming from Europe.

List species and subspecies

Current species

  • Bison bison (Linnaeus, 1758): North America.

  • Bison bonasus (Linnaeus, 1758): Europe.

Extinct species

  • † Bison '' antiquus (Leidy, 1852): North America.

  • † Bison will latifrons (Leidy, 1852): North America.
  • † Bison menneri (Sher, 1997): Europe.
  • † Bison palaeosinensis (Teilhard & Piveteau, 1930): Asia.
  • † Bison priscus (Bojanus, 1827): Eurasia and North America.
  • † Bison shoetensacki (Freudenberg, 1910): Europe.
  • † Bison sivalensis (Falconer, 1878): China.
  • † Bison tamanensis (Vereshchagin, 1959): Russia.
  • † Bison voigtstedtensis (Fischer, 1965): Europe.

The Bison of the steppes ( Bison priscus (Bojanus, 1827))

Bison priscus , a bison with large horns, lived Eurasia and Alaska during the Pléistocène. One frequently finds this bison on the parietal paintings of the European Préhistoire.

It is at the end of the last glacial period (there are 10 to 15.000 years) that Bison priscus seems to give rise to Bison bonasus , the current bison of Europe, and perhaps also with the bison of America.

See also: Bison of the steppes

The species Bison of Europe ( Bison bonasus (Linnaeus, 1758))

The Bison of Europe was very frequent on all the continent of Europe, of the Atlantique to the the Ural (except Spain, Italy, the Scandinavian peninsula and British Isles), and this until the Moyen-âge. It is also possible that it resided in Siberia, even if this point must still be confirmed.

Charlemagne drove out it, just as the Aurochs, in the area of Liege and Aachen.

Exterminated in nature after the First World War, the bison of Europe did not survive then any more but in captivity. It was gradually reintroduced in nature after the second world war.

The average weight of the male is of approximately 700  kg (1  thunder to the maximum), and the size can reach 1,80  m, to see 2  m, with the garrot. The female is smaller, with a weight between 350 and 600  kg.
It is largest terrestrial Mammifère of Europe.

See also: Bison of Europe

The species Bison of North America ( Bison bison (Linné, 1758))

The bison was an animal characteristic of the North America and an idol of many Amerindian cultures . The Amerindians of the large plains of North America had an economy largely based on the bison.

The bisons of North America were still 50 to 70 million before the arrival of Europeans in America, living and migrant on the grassy plains of North America, of the Mexico to the Canada.

They have curly the extinction with the Conquête of the West, the introduction of the horses and the construction of the railroad (about 1870-1880), where the massacre of the bisons was an economic enterprise with very large scales, but also an Amerindian strategy to affect the . Buffalo Bill (William Frederick Cody) was one of the largest hunters of bisons.

The animal is then protected, and its population in 2005 is estimated at 200 with 300  000 bisons, alive in animalist zoos, parks, private breedings (for the meat) and of natural reserves (with the E. - U. and with the Canada). This last group, the only bisons living in freedom, is very minority (a few thousands). The most important group is that of the bisons of breeding, of which several tens of thousands are cut down each year for their meat.

See also: Bison of North America

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