How to save the bison population

History knows many examples of the extinction of wild animals through the fault of people. A fair amount of mammals, birds, and other fauna representatives have disappeared from the face of the Earth forever due to their extermination by humans. The European bison almost joined these unfortunate ones. And only the skillful actions of caring people helped to preserve this look for posterity.

Once upon a time, these mighty animals lived throughout Europe. At first, bison disappeared in England and in the southern parts of Europe, as well as in the Ural regions, where many remains of ancient animals were found. But on the territory of Eastern Europe, bison lived in sufficient numbers as far back as the 15th century, but, according to reports, by the middle of the 18th century, these animals disappeared in all European countries, preserved in small numbers in deciduous forests. And the southeastern population of Caucasian bison (dombai) was exterminated at the beginning of the 20th century.

Two subspecies of the European bison are somewhat different from each other. The flat Bialowieza bison are larger than their mountain relatives, they have a thicker, longer and more straight coat, unlike the Caucasian ones, which have wavy hair.

Thus, having exterminated all the wild bison in the 20s of the XX century, people finally thought about it. The International Society for the Conservation of Bison was created, the members of which were engaged in the restoration of bison from the few individuals that lived in captivity at that time. After the search, it turned out that in 15 different countries there are 56 live bison. While negotiations and registration work were going on, there were only 40 animals left. In connection with such a small number for the genetic diversity of the population, it was decided to introduce bison blood. The fact is that bison, although they are a different species, but when crossed with a bison, give a very viable, and most importantly prolific offspring.

Since the late 1930s, work has been carried out to restore the Caucasian bison population. It carries the genes of the only purebred Caucasian bison, nicknamed the Caucasus, 12 purebred European bison and bison. Through targeted crossbreeding, scientists subsequently managed to minimize the admixture of bison in the Caucasian population. Since 1960, these bison have been living on the territory of the Caucasus Nature Reserve and even spread beyond it.

It turns out that in purebred form it was possible to restore only the Bialowieza plain population of bison, which they began to breed since 1946 in the territory of Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Subsequently, the bison nursery in the Serpukhov area, the Mordovian and Khopersky reserves were inhabited by bison. The population was restored with the participation of only 7 purebred producers. To prevent closely related crosses, careful records were kept of individuals and bison-producers were transported from one territory to another. It was a troublesome affair, but it gave good results. Today in Russia there are about 900 bison. Most of them live in the Caucasus Reserve, part in the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve, as well as in other nurseries and reserves.

According to experts, today in the world there are more than 5,000 bison, most of which, about 3,600 animals, are kept in their natural habitats in reserves or other specially protected areas. But scientists are still concerned about the genetic well-being of the bison population. Therefore, in the future, they will most likely have to be crossed with bisons to prevent inbreeding (incest). But no matter how their fate develops in the future, the history of bison is very revealing. It is easier to preserve wild animals in their natural habitat than to engage in a long and laborious restoration process.