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The European bison (''Bison bonasus''), also known as wisent ( or ) or the European wood bison, is a Eurasian species of bison. It is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the American bison. There have been three subspecies in the past, but only one survives today (see infobox). European bison were hunted to extinction in the wild in the early 20th century, with the last wild animals of the ''B. b. bonasus'' species being shot in the Białowieża Forest (on the Poland-Belarus border) in 1921 and the ''B. b. caucasus'' in the northwestern Caucasus in 1927. ''(B. b. hungarorum'' was hunted to extinction in the mid 1800s.) They have since been reintroduced from captivity into several countries in Europe, all descendants of the Białowieża or lowland European bison. They are now forest-dwelling. They have few predators (besides humans), with only scattered reports from the 19th century of wolf and bear predation. European bison were first scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Some later descriptions treat the European bison as conspecific with the American bison. It is not to be confused with the aurochs, the extinct ancestor of domestic cattle. In 1996, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classified the European bison as an endangered species. It has since been downgraded to a vulnerable species. In the past, especially during the Middle Ages, it was commonly killed for its hide, and to produce drinking horns. ==Description== The European bison is the heaviest surviving wild land animal in Europe; a typical European bison is about long, not counting a tail of long, and tall. At birth, calves are quite small, weighing between . In the free-ranging population of the Białowieża Forest of Belarus and Poland, body masses among adults (aged 6 and over) are on average in the cases of males, with a range of , and of among females, with a range of .〔http://www.lhnet.org/wisent-european-bison/〕〔(The Animal Files )〕 An occasional big bull European bison can weigh up to or more.〔((2011). )〕〔Boitani, Luigi, ''Simon & Schuster's Guide to Mammals''. Simon & Schuster/Touchstone Books (1984), ISBN 978-0-671-42805-1〕〔Burnie D and Wilson DE (Eds.), ''Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide to the World's Wildlife''. DK Adult (2005), ISBN 0789477645〕 On average, it is slightly lighter in body mass and yet taller at the shoulder than the American bison (''Bison bison''). Compared to the American species, the wisent has shorter hair on the neck, head, and forequarters, but longer tail and horns. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「European bison」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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