The Return of the Bison: Europe’s Largest Wild Animal
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2024
- It is time for us to take a deep dive into the story of one of Europe's most iconic species: The European Bison also known as żubr or wisent. This mighty bovine is Europe's largest animal and is also a keystone species that plays a very important role in its ecosystem. In this series we want to cover the story of their decline, recovery and how they now play a central role in Europe's rewilding ambitions.
🦬 Learn more about us and the Mossy Earth Membership: mossy.earth/
🙌 Subscribe to Mossy Earth: ruclips.net/user/MossyEarth?...
💪 OUR PARTNERS IN THIS VIDEO
===============================
Carpathia: www.carpathia.org/
Yvonne Kemp
START REWILDING OUR PLANET TODAY
===============================
With us, you will restore nature and fight climate change every month
🌲 Plant native trees to capture carbon
🐺 Rewild habitats to support biodiversity
🐉 Support underfunded species and ecosystems
Become a Mossy Earth Member: mossy.earth/?...
⏱️TIMESTAMPS⏱️
0:00 intro
1:05 Ecology
2:15: History
4:30 Current projects
🔎 ABOUT THIS VIDEO
===============================
The bison is back. This is surely a reason to celebrate and showcase a species that's suffered such a tragic past. For anyone who's been lucky enough to witness them in the flesh, I'm sure you'll understand my giddiness for this an awe-inspiring species. But for those who haven't, I want to share more about my recent encounter with a herd of bison and also take a closer look at their unique story. From their historical decline to recent revival and the controversy surrounding reintroductions, the European Bison is taking a leading role in rewilding the landscape of present day Europe.
➡️ Read all about this project here: mossy.earth/rewilding-knowled...
As a child I remember seeing the small group in the Basel zoo, it was then I learned that this group was part of a programme to create a gene pool to allow reintroduction, someday, in their environment.
Today that day finally is here.
It was in 1960s I first saw them.
Brilliant! You are a part of this story then :) - Cheers, Duarte
When I visited my grandparents near Geneva, my grandfather used to take me near the airport of Geneva-Cointrin to see bisons. One of my first memory with him was in fact seeing these beautiful animals between 1993 and 1994. There were at least 20 bisons.
In the video, where the yellow dots pop up on the map, there's one dot near that place I visited.
I remember seeing Wisent (Bison) in a Zoo in the early 70ies. My memory wants to tell me it was here in Bern ... but I find no trace of that in the history of the local zoo Dählhölzli. So it must have been Basel or Zürich! Those are pleasant memories, thank you for bringing them back!
Cool af
I am Serbian and I am proud that this year the bison was reintroduced in my country in the National park "Fruška gora". Hopefully the group of five individuals will become a national pride. Great video!
Very glad to hear!
@@MossyEarth
me to :)
Let them live as thay want.
that place is already extremely beautiful
One of them is also member of Parliament here in Serbia,his name is Djuka 🤫
Yes in Fruška Gora,i always wanted reintroduced that gorgeus animal in my Serbia
It must be stressed, that Poland did a great job when it vomes to reintroduction of animals that were extinct or reallu close to it. Many reintroduction projects are going on right now in Poland, with Bisons, Wolfs, Bears, some burds of pray etc. But arguebly the most succesful of them all, was reintroduction of beaver, that went extinct in Poland in mid XX century, but now sits at comfortable population of few houndred thousand and is basicly in all rivers in the country.
The beaver is a story we want to tell in an upcoming video :D - Cheers, Duarte
Nice one Poland!
Zefrank just released a video on beavers
@@williamchamberlain2263 That was a gem, I wish he would've mentioned the Eurasian Beaver though, It is a separate species from the the familiar North American Beaver.
And beaver is considered a pest once again.
Woohoo! God bless the Poles.
I'm so proud that Poland have one of last remaining bits of ancient forest, that is home to magnificent eur. bison, bobcat, wolf, bear to name the few. Thank you, very informative programme.
In Balkan (albanian alps) we have them all besides bisons.
hes right, the balkan lynx is only present in albania and macedonia
It’s a shame that the polish government is allowing ever increasing amounts of logging in these ancient forests.
@@negergreger666 well thankfully next year we will be over with this government and I'm crossing my fingers that we will have more pro-ecological, pro-human and less corrupted group rule the country. Especially as it most likely will be a big coalition of smaller parties this time (at least looking at the modern polls). And far from bigoted old crazy dudes. But we will see, how it goes.
@@negergreger666 fake news lol, l2p kiddo
Serbia got 5 Bisons recently, such a great news, people gave them names and media cover of this fantastic event was awesome, thank you Poland for giving us the best present ever :)
The recovery of both the European and North American Bison is to me one of the most inspirational stories of perseverance and preservation. NA Bison went all the way down to hear 325 individuals, and today we have half a million of these wonderful animals in the US alone.
It is amazing to see and makes me believe we can stop the tide of extinction and find a balance with wilderness and natural ecosystems. - Cheers, Duarte
To bad 99% of them are on farms due to no more open land... I imagine Europe has even less open land..
@@MossyEarth i just wanted to point out, that there is a lot more space in the us for such huge animals. the eu has about half the size and almost double the population of the usa - so the population density is 3-4 times higher than in the usa. especially he grazing grounds of the bisons are almost unpopulated in the us.
in your video you sounded "disappointed" or surprised that there are so many more bisons in the us - compared to the eu. i dont think the us numbers are realistic for europe / esp. the eu (lets ignore russia here).
@@MrNukedawhales I'll mention that the U.S. population sprawls a lot more than most countries and also factor in lots of land is farmland, so that discounts a good chunk of the historical land available for bison to graze, so the 60 million or so bison will never return, a hopeful estimate would be around 10-15 million.
Why did the US Bison go down to 325 individuals in such a vast Country?
It is crazy that such a large and ecologically important species ended up extinct in the wild, just the scale of the ecological impact of their absence is mind boggling. On the other hand the opportunity for positive change is of the same magnitude which is very exciting!
My thoughts exactly, so sad to think of what is lost but at the same time the opportunity is very exciting!
During the late 19th century, the American and its government purposely wipe out the bison species from the Great Plains in the Midwest States. As if that was not evil enough, the main plot was to wipe out the indigenous people of the Great Plains in the US. Because the indigenous people were completely dependent upon the bison for everything. The American government practically and proudly achieved both objectives. Credit the US government did reintroduce bison into their former habitats but not the poor indigenous people.
Do you eat bread? So you need an area for fields. In the times of not-so-efficient agriculture and much lesser foreign trade, it was necessary.
Bread can be made in a lab. Agriculture can move inside, dork. Think big...
@@aaronaragon7838
Better yet, why not just put agriculture on low orbiting space stations and grow them there?
Think bigger.
I had no Idea that there were so little of them left, they could've easily gone extinct and I'm so glad they are still on the planet
They truly hung on by a thread. I am also very happy they are still around :) - Cheers, Duarte
Many species had similar stories in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and ARE extinct now, sadly. First one I learned about was the Thylacine and I was blown away at the time (I was eight or nine years old) that it was a kind of "prehistoric-looking" animal that was extinct, but that there were videos of the last living specimen in a zoo. As a kid I wanted to believe the stories that they still stalk the Outback and are occasionally sighted (they're now treated as cryptids, the same way we treat other sightings of extinct animals like plesiosaurs), but I really don't think they hold any water- The Tasmanian tiger is gone.
@@vitriolicAmaranth as soon as they are on the lease concern list I think the government should use knowledge of genetics to resurrect extinct species of bison
There was also another type of cattle in Europe that was unfortunately wiped out. The aurochs. The last one probably died in Poland in 1627. They were related to the Gaur and Banteng and were similar in size
They probably still will due to genetic bottlenecking, 50 individuals are the starting genetic base for all further European Bison that will ever be born, unless we can artificially increase the genetic biodiversity by cloning preserved dna samples from old individuals or by artificially modifying their gene code to create more genetic diversity in the population to essentially create genetically new individuals the inbreeding will unfortunately eventually catch up. In the short term its great but long term....long term they'll need more genetic variation to stave off going the way of the Hapsburgs.
We love our Bisons in Poland :) They are kind of a national symbol. They are called "Żubr" in Polish. We love them so much, that one of our best vodka's is called after them, or rather after "Bison grass" which they really like to eat in srping time. The grass is really aromatic and gives special flavour that goes really well with apple juice ;) There is a small Bison sanctuary in the town near to where I live - in Niepołomice. They have approx 30 animals there. The sanctuary is closed for any outside visitors as it's main purpose if the preservation of the species.
Thank you fo r this video! It's great to see that slowly, but surely, the European Bisons are more commong in the wild in our continent! :)
The difference is you have space in Poland, Germany doesn’t. After Russia we have the largest population and now compare Russia with Germany.
@@poppi510 how does this relate to my comment? :D
@@madebywera5048 Może ma na myśli tzw 'przestrzeń życiową' na wschodzie, gdzie mogłyby żyć żubry, a którą obiecywał im pan H.? Oczywiście bez bezposredniego związku z Pani komentarzem.
i have drank that vodka before, there was some grass straws in it. Cool to know that the bison eats that. greetings from norway
A lot of those Bisons in Belarus. Happy to know they live in Poland too
An interesting story: A few years back in Poland, a Cow escaped her field and wandered for some time until she stumbled upon a herd of Bisons and they accepted her as their own and she did good in the wild for a while. Unfortunatly she had to been taken back in fear of her breeding a hybrid and effectively undermine the bison specie reconstruction effort.
Cow wanted to get back to her roots😀
@@allywilkeforsenate It would be the same as if I wanted to live with a tribe of cavemans.
"Re-Wilding" is a new word for me. With the stress and encroachment going on here in the US, I worry that we're losing way too much wilderness way too fast, even as some of us are resisting. It's good to hear about efforts in other parts of the world. Thanks for doing that work.
After its total extinction in 1790, Romania has now over 100 bisons (that we call "zimbru" in Romanian), living in 5 sites , most of them in the Carpathians; first 2 were brought from Poland and were reintroduced back in 1958...a very beautiful "monster"
I've seen them first time in 1979 in Hateg reservation.
Having it in Denmark may seem small to a lot of people, but it makes me proud that my country is supporting the effort to get the bison back here again. If only the same could be said for the wolves that migrated to Jylland. There's been a ton of hate towards them, and some have even been killed. There was a big case where an older man shot one out of the window of his car. He had his hunting license removed, and got a fine if I recall correctly. Hopefully some day we can see the wolf become a regular animal here again. I just can't understand why so many people see it as a threat. People are rarely attacked by wolves, and farmers here are compensated when they lose livestock, and can get financial support if they decide to make their grazing fields wolf-proof. There's literally no good reason to hate it, but sadly narrowminded people refuse to see the benefit it would have to nature in Jylland, and that's without even going into the morals of the case, with the wolves being in Denmark before we got there, but obviously we drove it to extinction in the wild as well.
Same here in the Netherlands. Wolfs are also returning here and there are around 20-30 wolves right now. Unfortunately, a few of the wolves that migrate here have been hit by cars. And because our road network is really dense, I think this will keep happening.
@@-_-5683 The guy who shot the wolf from the window of his car? He claimed he was feeling threatened by the wolf, despite it being on a field and him in his car. That's the type of idiots we deal with here.
@@Alliebutt It's probably a farmer that doesn't want it's animals eaten, but if they get compensation they should never have to shoot any wolves.
@@-_-5683 That's the worst part. He wasn't even a farmer. He was a 'concerned citizen' who felt threatened. So he couldn't even use the farmer excuse.
Sadly this mindset takes a long time to change but we are getting there bit by bit. In the next video on this topic I will try to cover that aspect more thoroughly. Specifically the studies made to test whether bison are dangerous or not which were actually really interesting. - Cheers, Duarte
This makes me so incredibly happy. We need bears, moose and bison, as well as wolves in European forests. Nature is missing these big animals and predators. Our forests are hurting. It's so insanely important that we get them back.
Moose is american.
In Europe we have Elk, which in the US is the name for what we call deer.
In any case , we need to reintroduce all animals in the wild as they were just not so long ago.
Wonder if we manage to see the European Ox ever.
I couldn't agree more :D - Cheers, Duarte
@@Braun30 that would be cool, starting with keystone species a lot of the others will benefit as well
@@nateman10 America has Antelope? I thought those are only found in Africa
Edit: Oh you meant Pronghorns. I see, so they call those Antelope in America huh.
@@nateman10 he probably meant "Elch" which is moose in German
The Carpathians are maybe the most beautiful mountains I've seen. Thank you for helping them regain even more of that natural beauty!
The romanian Carpathian are breathtaking indeed!!!!
some 25 years ago, I had the chance to some of the bisons reintroduced in Northern France. It is a very peaceful and impressive animal.
Very peaceful and impressive were my thoughts too :)
The lionshare of the American Bison recovery has been on the back of commercial ranching/ meat production. Recovery is a lot easier when it pays for itself - not to mention that it demands the farm/ ranch landscape play a more functional role ecologically.
That is true and a lot of the early incentives to save the species were commercial too. Nevertheless a very happy alignment of commercial interests and conservation. A rare happy overlap between the two :) - Cheers, Duarte
Tasty lean meat
@@jamestregler1584 In Europe u wont be allowed to eat Wisent for at least a millenium.
@@wokeaf1337 Hopefully never
@@jamestregler1584 ruminant meat is definitely tasty. It's also loaded with nutrition but so is the fat, so I'd add it back the same way I do with venison.
Not a single mention of Belarus in this video? Bisons remained in Poland and Belarus at the time when they were almost extinct. The Bialawieza forest is shared between our countries. Soviet and Belarusian scientists were very active in saving this species. It is the national symbol of our country. Now the dictator Lukašenka has removed them from the red book in 2022 and allows hunting and making salami out of the Wisent, but the Belarusian people don't support his decision.
Him mentioning nazis whilst not mentioning Belarus is pretty laughable, considering belarusian population is almost equal to polish one (>2000 bisons).
Wait, he did what? I thought it's only allowed to hunt sick and senile zubr
And in Romania too
Belarus=Russia, the world isn't so happy with the great people of either country.
@@mistertonygee so what?
Thank You Poland❤️
You preserved this majestic species from Extinction you are my hero!!!
I’m happy they have them in Poland but these Bisons never went extinct in Belarus 🤷🏻♂️
@@vladm5920 I don’t know if you’ve thought about this. This bison is descended from a long line of prehistoric relatives perhaps extracting its DNA. You can revive every last one of those species, and bring the world into a bygone era, the Pleistocene.
Thanks to the germans! They preserved the European Bison, not the Polish.
Did you know that the closest living relative of both the European Bison (Bison bonasus) and the American Bison (Bison bison) is the Yak (Poephagus grunniens)?
And that’s another animal that man is engineering. Domestication of mammals normally means the death of the wild gene pool. We as a species cannot help but meddle, so called experts can breed bigger and better, profit margins matter.
It makes me so happy to see such a beautiful and important species returning back to its native range. I can't to see where the future takes this species and hopefully they'll be able to spread across Europe soon!!
Our next video will focus more on this aspect :) We also really want to find a bison project to work with. There is so much potential for positive impact given it's role :)
*forgets about video 2 hours later*
@@godhandvoid9795 why be so negative on a positive comment? Its better that people are excited for the wild to return than that they want to kill all animals and cut down forests right?
I am so so happy that these projects now popping all over Europe. I remember in 80s in Poland there was just a tiny population of Bisons (Zubr), there were legit fears animal will go extinct. It's beautiful and majestic and gentle in nature...
It is a great topic, but somehow the author missed the information that Biełaviežskaja pušča (Bialoweza) is primeval forest of both Poland and Belarus, it is litrally on the border of 2 countries.
Я думаю он умышленно игнорировал этот факт.
Amazing job, Duarte! Exciting times for the European Bison, hope to see their numbers increase at a faster rate in the future, with Mossy Earth as part of that success!
Thank you Diogo! Glad you enjoyed the video :) I hope we can get involved soon!
It's a Wisent not a Bison
@Jarl Nils, actually, wisents and bison are actually the same thing, its called a european bison because it is a species of bison, bison are cattle of the genus Bison, with only two extant species recognized, the European Bison (Bison bonasus) and the American Bison (Bison bison), the closest living relative both both extant species is the Yak (Poephagus grunniens), which is the sole extant species of another extant genus being Poephagus.
What an iconic species. I can't wait for the next episode!
Thanks Matt! Glad you enjoyed it :) - Cheers, Duarte
My husband and I just found your channel and we are so happy to know good people like you exist. Thank you for taking care of our planet and bringing it back to it's natural beauty
Thank you for the kind words Nicoline :) We really appreciate that! - Cheers, Duarte
I just love seeing these beautiful creatures roam European forests. It already makes me want to visit all the places mentioned in the video for some bison-centered sustainable tourism. I'm happy to see that rewilding is gaining traction and that there seems to be a growing acceptance of this type of approach among the people in Europe. There will always be some challenges and negative perceptions of course, but a number of these projects have given me hope that this movement will continue to move forward and gain ground.
Well done. I remember learning about bysons when a polish friend of mine gave me a vodka which had a bison in its brand and a piece of grass inside
🍸 A great way to spread the word about this iconic animal! :) - Cheers, Duarte
Ahh yes, Żubrówka :)
I love the rewilding videos you pump out - super informative and also very uplifting, seeing how many projects are already in full force to bring back habitat and wildlife to their old homes
Thank you David! Glad you enjoy these :) - Cheers, Duarte
Amazing video! Excited to see the next episode and Mossy Earth’s involvement in more Bison related rewilding projects!
Thank you Bob :) I REALLY would like us to work on a proper bison project :) - Cheers, Duarte
A very well-presented video, full of info, not a second wasted, crisp and to the point. In this respect, it is much better than the majority of presentations on YT. Great topic too, nice to see the good results of the long-term project. Well done, guys!
Such a joy to see all you wonderful young people putting in the loving work to give these splendid animals a resurgence.
Thank You.
Me an my family lives for centuries in Pszczyna, Poland, where the last 3 European Bisons survived WW2. All currently living animals are their descendants, you should mention this :) Make research to find it out. My father tells it was not uncommon to see big male laying on country roads in 70's.... They would not move, you had to turn back ;)
We learned about it in our conservation class in university! The wisent pedigree is one of the most controlled, which is good, so the population is genetically healthy. We also went to visit them in bieszczady national park. It was gorgeous there!
Great video Duarte & team! Your storytelling is getting a lot better as well :) Looking forward to watching the next part of this series.
Thank you Michael, this one was a bit more effort but glad you enjoyed it :) - Cheers, Duarte
This summer in England we've had bison re-introduced just outside the city of Canterbury. Fingers crossed the project goes well!
Wow. I did not know UK went for it also. Good luck with it . They are amazing and majestic creatures. I heard however that you are trying to re-introduce beavers . Thats another big program in Poland also , there is so much to reintroduce....bdw. greetings from Poland .
@@PTS-bu8rv Good luck also with the bison and beavers :) So far in England I haven't heard of any negatives so hopefully we can see more of them in the future in both our countries and across Europe.
Omg i just discovered this channel and love what you're doing! Subscribed before the vide even ended! Thank you for all that you're doing to help raise awareness 🙏
Welcome and thank you so much for the kind words! It means a lot to us :) - Cheers, Duarte
It is wonderful to see these magnificent animals back in the landscape.
A great video Duarte. Keep up the incredible work you and your team are doing. Cheers!
This is amazing. Thank you for this video. I hope you will do more projects in the US and Canada as this goes on. Blessings, and long live the wild!
Good to know more about żubr, thanks for the video!
Glad you enjoyed it Piotr :) - Cheers, Duarte
What a great video!
May the mighty wisent return to Europe!
Thank you my friend! Glad you enjoyed it :) - Cheers, Duarte
Thank you for your efforts, in rewinding numerous areas.
This is an amazing project. It’s incredible that all the existing European bison today exist from just 50 animals spread around zoos in Europe
This is incredibly exciting! So happy to see more of Europe's wild-life restored! Hopefully we can have some in Norway as well, if it is sustainable for our ecosystems :)
It was never really native to Norway. However, due to climate change their natural range would have shifted north if possible. I think they would fit very well. - Cheers, Duarte
there are a ton of musk in Dovre, if that helps
Great to see them coming back. I live in Winterthur and visit several times the small animal park where wisent live. The village I grew up in, is even called after Wisent.
Amazing :) what a cool name for a village!
What an inspiration story! In Kazakhstan we're currently trying to reintroduce Siberian tigers. WWF is planning to reintroduce first tigers in 2025 from Russia. To do so we're currently building proper ecosystem for tigers. Wild boars was already reintroduced to Balkhash reservation, as well as Bukhara deer. WWF specialists also instruct local population on how to live near wild tiger. Hope everything is gonna go according to the plan, and Siberian tiger would return to Kazakhstan!
Well, siberian tigers had never lived in Central Asia, you probably mean extinct caspian tigers which were close related but separate sub-specie.
@@identytarysta2892 yes, we cannot return to life extinct species, but we still can save the one's who alive
Will look into a membership soon. Mossy Earth gives me hope and makes me happy.
Thats awesome Luce, hope to see you soon! - Rob
This is wonderful! Makes my heart feel happy. Thank you!💕💗
Why is there a "St." in your name?
@@Lone-Lee It stands for Saint . . . Saint George
Glad you enjoyed it :) - Cheers, Duarte
@@viennastgeorge, I know but I haven't seen it being used in someone's name. Just weird.
An amazing story of recovery! Very excited to see some Bison in the UK soon too! Great video!
Thank you Rob! You should go visit the Kent project when it becomes possible to do so :) Thet are a mighty animal to see in person. - Cheers, Duarte
Thank-you for this channel! 🌱❕️
seeing bison is one of the grea pleasures of visiting Yellowstone - best wishes on bring back European bison
I find it fascinating that a symbiotic relationship has already started between the Birds and the newly introduced Bison.
My sister took part in getting the bison to Bornholm when she was an intern at the forester there.
She was pretty proud to be a part of it, and I can understand why!
I am from Romania and is really cool knowing there are efforts like this happening in my country
Hello there! I'm really happy to see people working on reintroducing the former big fauna to wild lands. This is a theme that really intrigues me as a arborist, because we have a modern subject on this that is called "coronet cuts" on tree pruning and urban forest management. Have you already heard about it? It's related to creating microdendrohabitats for insects, birds and fungi that are not available through the traditional and "perfect" management of green areas.
Hope this comment find you well,
Caio
I’m really hoping to see them completely recover within my lifetime, your videos are so amazing never stop being awesome!
Thank you George :) Really appreciate that! I also hope to one day see a herd of a few hundred bison stampeded or to photograph one in the snow. Such an iconic animal! - Cheers, Duarte
@@MossyEarth someday, someday :)
@@GeorgeTheDinoGuy Someday :)
Wow such a coincidence!! Last week I interviewed Yvonne Kemp for my Bachelor Thesis project on European Bison in the Netherlands.
Haha yes Yvonne is brilliant to work with and we hope to collaborate more with her in the future :) - Cheers, Duarte
How exciting!!! The big guy is majestic indeed. Im so happy to see the trees you planted are thriving!!!!
niceee did not know about this!! Thanks for the video!
Good video. Their are 2 types of North American bison. Your video described the North American Plains Bison, in contrast with the Athabasca (wood) Bison that ocupies the same enviromental niche as the European Bison. Both the European Bison in Europe and the Athabasca Bison in North America will need to be re-introduced in large scale as they eat/manage the underbrush in forests to prevent wild fires.
Looks like Bison is back on the menu boys!
This is amazing, I never knew these creatures even existed until this video. To bring back a species which is basically extinct is a really marvellous thing.
Such a cool and educating video. Keep up the good work. I love bisons, though I've never seen any individual (I live in central america, where bison went extinct at the end of the pleistocene). I really hope the wisent can recover even more
5:37
_"This lil hat 👒 will hide me!!"_
😂😂
😂😂😂
Man, what an amazing video. I wish Bisons were still roaming in the Netherlands would love to see one! I just got at 4:48 man we got the bison here too?!!! Amazing to learn. Thanks!
wow even a scientist from Netherlands, damn I didn't know. Great video :D
Yes! There are quite a few projects in the Netherlands! Look it up you should try to visit :) - Cheers, Duarte
i love hiking and experiancing the beauty of the wild world i wish to one day get to see some bisons and more that i never got to see out in the open before, they are absolutely beatiful animals and nothing makes me happier than knowing that one day they will be the norm.
i love your projects and all you do for the world
Great footage and amazing to see these beasts back in the wild! Can’t wait to visit a site and have the experience of ‘bumping’ into bison myself!
Thank you Tim! Bumping into one quite literally hopefully not hahah :) In all seriousness though, they really do bring something special to a wild area! - Cheers, Duarte
The aurochs needs to make a come back aswell. (Yeah, I know that technically Tauros Cattle aren't aurochs, but they are more or less the same species and they look almost identical)
Indeed! We need to make a proper video about them as well. It is a super interesting concept :) - Cheers, Duarte
@böser Theropode, actually, the aurochs that gave rise to both the domestic cattle and zebu is actually two separate species, the Palearctic Aurochs (Bos primigenius) and the Paleotropical Aurochs (Bos namadicus), the Paleotropical Aurochs comprised of four wild subspecies, the Caucasian Aurochs (Bos namadicus caucasicus), the Arabian Aurochs (Bos namadicus arabicus), the Indian Aurochs (Bos namadicus namadicus), and the Saharan Aurochs (Bos namadicus mauritanicus), the Indian Aurochs (Bos namadicus namadicus) is the main ancestor of the Zebu (Bos namadicus indicus), while the Palearctic Aurochs (Bos primigenius) comprised of eight wild subspecies, the Himalayan Aurochs (Bos primigenius himalayensis), the Chinese Aurochs (Bos primigenius chinensis), the Korean Aurochs (Bos primigenius koreensis), the Scandinavian Aurochs (Bos primigenius scandinavicus), the English Aurochs (Bos primigenius englandensis), the Central European Aurochs (Bos primigenius primigenius), the Italian Aurochs (Bos primigenius italicus), and the Iberian Aurochs (Bos primigenius ibericus), the Central European Aurochs (Bos primigenius primigenius) is the main ancestor of the Domestic Cattle (Bos primigenius taurus).
They're still too short-legged and long-bodied sadly, despite the effort of scientists and breeders so far
@@d.b.2215 they are getting there very soon. I could bet that if we released the Tauros Project cattle into the wild as they are, they would be very much ok
Przewalski's horses also need to make a greater comeback to Europe, they are thriving in Chernobyl of all places, anywhere else would be child's play for them
@@indyreno2933 Bos primigenius namadicus is the full name of the Indian Aurochs, which means it is classified as a subspecies of Aurochs, not a distinct species.
wow thanks for this! im from slovenia, and i didnt know we got our first 5 european bizons in 2015 directly from poland Bialowieža forest. i live near the area where they left them in nature so maybe, i can see one someday :) i meet bears in front of my house few times a year, so maybe bison can surprise me also.
They've just been reintroduced to a woodland around 60 miles from where I live in Kent, UK. I just cannot wait to see these beautiful animals in the wild.
this is such important work! thank you for sharing 🙌❤
Glad you enjoyed the video! - Cheers, Duarte
There is a big farm by me and they have a lot of Buffalos. It is nice to drive by there on the way to town and see all of them in the field. Hard to think that at one time there was millions of them roaming around free
You should definitely partner up with ARK rewilding in the Netherlands (the people behind the Wisent reintroductions). It is a groundbreaking organization that never ceases to amaze me with their projects.
Thank you for the tip! It has been added to the list :) - Cheers, Duarte
stumbled across your channel. super interesting THANKS
Super cool! I love the sense of wilderness coming across them must give
It is really special! :)
A big thank you to Yvonne and Carpathia for helping us out with the footage :)
A big thank you to you too Duarte!
For being a beacon of hope during this insane times...
@@Lone-Lee ha cheers mate :)
Great video, as usual.
I know some European bisons have been brought in from Poland and living semi-wild in a few places in France (Ste-Eulalie in Margeride, Bel-Val in the Ardennes, Thorenc in South-Eastern Alps) but none are noted on the map at 4:47
Is it because the herds are too small to count as reintroduction, and/or because they're more touristy things than real rewilding projects ?
Also, maybe it will be covered in the follow-up video, but I'm curious about how reintroduction projets take into account possible (probable) contacts between reintroduced bisons and domestic cows, and notably the risks of spreading bovine diseases between wild and domestic populations.
Hi Asphobelle, it was hard for us to find the data on all the existing bison projects as it is not collated anywhere. So thank you for the input :) For your second question, this is a concern yes and we will cover it in the next video. - Cheers, Duarte
@@MossyEarth Thanks for answering.
I completely understand, I could only find info in French about these places, and only because I was already aware of the Margeride one as I grew up nearby. But it makes me think that maybe other small projects in other countries also flew under the radar, so the bison population could already be more numerous than expected.
Now waiting for the next video :)
Not sone but all of them came from Poland
Great project by Charpathia, l follow them and their great achievements. One day l would go to see the wild bissons of Romania, l saw many reintroduction places in this beautiful country.
I absolutely love stories like these about animal reintroduction especially in Europe and North America.
Great Episode!
Thank you Nafak! - Cheers, Duarte
This is my national animal! It is on my beautiful coat of arms! I am excited to see them in my Codri someday... (very old Moldovan forest)
I remember here in Lithuania, visiting a small preserved herd with a class excursion. Truly large and magnificent animals.
Very interesting story of the European Bison 🦬 ! So happy about bringing them back from extinction. I am a wildlife photographer in Srilanka funding many wildlife around the world to whales, to tigers to snow leopards. Long live the European Bison ! Proud of you for helping them ❤ 👏 💓.
Wow cool! I want to have them back in Europa! I love them ❤️
They are amazing :)
Their such amazing animals
The calm giants of the forest! It was a pleasure to see them and I hope we can start a bison project soon! - Cheers, Duarte
10000 that's more than I expected. Excellent 👌 really interesting video and it makes me want even more to go see them in the wild.
You really should! They are a magnificent animal :) - Cheers, Duarte
Great work i am very saddened to know these beautiful animals was wipe out however i am happy to know the rebuild of these specimen Great video, great information glad they're doing a great work.
You should turn this into a series about endangered animals.
We have quite a few videos on this actually :) - Cheers, Duarte
There is also a small herd of these animals in Germany, and apparently they might also come back naturally by crossing the border to Poland, as the wolves did not that long ago. I had considered going there a couple of times, hoping to maybe see some of them for myself, but since it's a small herd in a vast forest, the chances are pretty slim. I'd consider myself a rather attentive and, if need be, very quiet person, but even wild boar I never saw until last year (outside of zoos), and they are pretty common, apparently. Though when I was a child, I could only dream of seeing a wolf in the wild near my home, and I did, so why not bison? To just walk into the forest and come across a herd of these giants... it's one of those stories that show that maybe not all is lost for nature and our coexistence with it.
There are efforts to make them come back naturally, but there was a case of one crossing the border and getting shot in 2017. The acceptance and knowledge isn't there in Germany, and natural forests that are not used for tourism are rare. I think this country is ill-suited for wolfs or any sort of wild predator as there is no space for them that is not used in any way that would interfere and give them the room they need to live in nature and carry on their populations (as such, placing them somewhere would seem cruel and selfish to me, as they would end up trapped in some areas and ran over, if not shot), but I would agree that it would be nice to see a comeback of bisons which live in local herds and shoudn't cause aggressions in the human species.
Well all of the remaining population is located on the east side of Poland so there is no change of crossing borders.
@@qentin731 There back after 15,000 years European bison of course In European countries
I saw 2 bisons in Germany back in 2015 while riding a bus near Modautal. That was the very first and last time I've ever seen them with my own eyes.
THANK YOU!
MOTHER NATURE AND OLD FATHER TIME ARE THE BEST TEACHERS!
In the early 50's there was about 40,000 American Bison - and now there are about close to est 500,000.
Pretty incredible recovery :) We featured it in a video on our channel by the way. 3 Species that came back from the brink of extinction in North America :) - Cheers, Duarte
Do you have any opinions concerning the recreated Auroch?
With the European Bison the thing is simpler, it is basically a question of management and good practices, I suppose.
What do you think about those recreated Aurochs?
It is a very interesting question. Wild cows are certainly a worthy project. Whether you call them aurochs is a different matter I guess. We should make a video about this 🤔 Thanks for the tip! - Cheers, Duarte
@@MossyEarth There is some small scale project going on in Czech Republic near Milovice, i have heard about it years ago, and it should be partnered with Tauros Foundation.
Personally I think it would be better to use the effort only on the Bison, as far as I recall they both used about the same habitat and as you mention, it's 'recreated' it really has nothing to do with the real thing it's just cows bred to look like it. To me it seem more like a vanity project and has nothing to do with preservation.
Recently I run out of Tequila for the Tequila Sunrise drink and I had to replace the tequila with Zubrowka and it worked great. So, a new drink was created "Zubrowka Sunrise".
Love what you are doing. Keep it going.
I raise American prairie bison. Predominately grazers, but are a lot like goats and will eat most anything.
Keep it up bro, really high quality
Such an impressive animal, maybe I'll be able to travel to visit them when they're eventually reintroduced to Kent (I'll leave the wild camping to the rest of you for now)
Why not wild camp, its good fun you just need to be quiet and respectful.
Haha we will make a wild camper out of you one day mate :) - Cheers, Duarte
@@joeydr1497 I've wild camped with friends a few times and generally enjoyed it, but I'd like to get back in better shape first before I carry a tent around all day!
Grisly bears are impressive animals, but I wouldn't want them living anywhere near me, thank you.
Have you seen footage of American bison attacking cars on the road. Kent doesn’t have massive forests.
Really liked this video.!! The bison are massive cuties ahah
Haha thank you Ema!
Excellent video. I didn't' know this animal existed in Europe. Thanks.
That’s nice to see wild animals in their element!