ANIMALS RECENTLY EXTINCT. <I'21 



THE EUROPEAN BISON. 

 (Bison bonassus.) 



The European bison, or zubr* (Bison bonassus), bears a very close re- 

 semblance to its American relative, but is a little taller, not so heavily 

 built at the fore quarters, and lacks the shaggy hair about the head 

 and neck that gives the American bison so tierce an appearance. Al- 

 though never existing in such enormous numbers as the American bison, 

 the zubr in early days seems to have very generally inhabited the for- 

 ests of Central Europe. Osesar found the animal in Germany and Bel- 

 gium, and some were brought to Rome, where they were slaughtered 

 in gladiatorial exhibitions of the Coliseum. 



The American and European bison were quite different in their 

 habits, although this was largely due to the physical characteristics of 

 the regions respectively inhabited by the two species, the American 

 species preferring the open plains, where it associated in immense herds, 

 feeding upon grass, while the European species was a forest dweller, 

 found in small bands and living very largely on the bark and twigs of 

 young trees. The difference in habits between the two animals is 

 well shown by the fact thai the European bison was not found on the 

 steppes of southern Russia, although this region in many respects re- 

 sembles the plains of the western and southwestern United States. 

 At present the European bison is restricted to part of Lithuania and 

 the more inaccessible portion of the Caucasus, this latter region being 

 the ouly locality where the animal is found in a state of entire freedom. 

 The Lithuanian herd, which has enjoyed imperial protection for many 

 years, dwells in the Bjelowesche forest of the province of Grodno ; is 

 watched over by a large number of keepers, and is fed during the winter, 

 while in the Caucasus the zubr is protected by the rugged nature of 

 the region it inhabits and also by an order of the Grand Duke Michael, 

 issued in 1860, forbidding the slaughter of the animal. The specific 

 identity of the Lithuanian and Caucasian bison is still in dispute, but 

 that there is at least a subspecific distinction between them seems prob- 

 able, from the fact that the Caucasian animal is less thickly haired 

 than the Lithuanian, although living at a greater altitude and exposed 

 to a greater degree of cold. 



Up to 1500 the European bison seems to have been common in Po- 

 land, where it was looked upon as royal game, and hunted in right royal 

 manner by the King and nobility, as many as two thousand or three 

 thousand beaters being employed to drive the game. In 1534 the ani- 

 mal was still so numerous in the vicinity of Girgau, Transylvania, that 



"This species is coniinonly but improperly called tin* aurochs, but, as Professor 

 Alfred NewtOD says, "the aurochs (= ox of yore), Latinized by Ctesar in the form of 

 urus, is, or was, the Bon primigeniw, <>r Bos urus, of scientific nomenclature. 



" It is wholh by mistake thai in its extinction as a wild animal its ancionl name 

 was) i ran ifei red • " i li" bison, or aubi 



