Caucasian Wisent(Bison bonasus caucasicus)
The Caucasian Wisent was a subspecies of the European Wisent, or bison, native to the Caucasus Mountains of Eastern Europe. This subspecies of wisent. No secure resources describing the differences between this subspecies and the European bison exist.
Loss of habitat, overhunting, and illegal poaching all lead to the extinction of the Caucasian wisent. Human settlement in the Caucasus Mountains intensified in the 18th century and the range of the Caucasian wisent became reduced to about one tenth of its original range by the end of the 19th century. In the 1860s the population numbered about 2000 but was reduced to only 500 or 600 by 1917, and the population was further reduced to only 50 animals in 1921. The last three known wild Caucasian bison were killed in 1927. Captive purebred Caucasian bison lived and bred to create hybrids, until about the 1930s.
The offspring of these hybrids (various strains of European bison bred with the American bison) were reintroduced to Eastern Europe in the latter half of the 2oth century.
More Information
