This is the mighty Wisent, the European Bison

a gentle giant that for millennia roamed the forests and grasslands of Europe
only to then disappear completely from the wild at the start of the 20th century.

But now, with the return of European wilderness, the bison is making a comeback
as well

Their role as keystone species and ecosystem engineers have put them in high
demand for rewilding projects, and they are being reintroduced all over the
continent. However, it has not been without controversy or opposition.

Many people are only familiar with the American Bison

which in fact is very similar to its European cousin. However, the American Bison
is on average slightly heavier and favours grazing, while the European Bison is
slightly taller and in addition to grazing, also browses trees and shrubs.

An adult male can measure up to 2.9 metres in length,about 1.9 metres in height
and weigh about 800 kilos.
 As keystone species and ecosystem engineers they create habitats
for a variety of species by browsing, grazing, trampling and rolling on the grounds
and the undergrowth as well as debarking and knocking down trees and of
course the sheer scale of their dung.

All of this activity allows for pioneer plants to settle in the newly
opened areas, creating a biodiverse rich habitat for various
grasses and flowers, insects, small mammals, birds and even other grazers.

(knocked tree by bison)

(european bison dung)

(european bison grazing)

So I think it's time we answer that question by looking at the bizarre history of this
species.
Based on archaeological evidence, we know that their historic range went from
the north of Spain all the way to western Siberia.
 We don't know their original population numbers as they were gradually wiped
out over millennia by both human presence and gradual changes in the climates.
But based on their large range, we can estimate them to have been at least in the
hundreds of thousands, if not even millions.
They were certainly abundant in Roman times, but by the 15th century they were
gone from much of their range, so that by the start of the 20th century, only two
populations remained.

One in Poland, in Bialowieza, and another one in the northern part of the
Caucasus Mountains.
(bison in Bialowieza)
In Bialowieza(Poland), they managed to survive due to the protection of the
grand dukes and kings of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
and later also by the protection of Russian czars.
This was not a particularly inspired and selfless endeavour, they simply loved to
hunt them and prohibited anyone else from doing so.
In the Caucasus, they did not have this protection and probably survived due to
the sheer remoteness of the population there.
(forest in caucasus)
Then, during World War One, German troops shot 600 bison in Bialowieza and
they verged on the brink of extinction.
The last wild Polish bison was killed in 1921 and the last wild bison was killed in
the western Caucuses in 1927, making the species extinct in the wild.
 By then there were only about 50 individuals left, scattered across various zoos.
Because of this, the International Society for the Preservation of the Wisent was
founded in 1923, they helped start a breeding program and led to the creation of
The European Bison Pedigree Book, which has tracked every living bison since
then.

However, the real recovery story is a Polish one, and in 1952, after the success of
the breeding program, the first two bison were released back into the wild forests
of Bialowieza, with the herd growing in size ever since.
The speed of the recovery was steady, but never fast so that by the start of this
century the numbers had only climbed to about 2800 individuals.

Since then, renewed interest in the species has meant that the growth
rates of the overall population have increased to about 15% per year.
This has been accomplished above all in Poland, but also by a network of small,
ambitious projects which receive Polish bison to start their own semi wild herds.

To date, they have been reintroduced to about 20 countries.

It's places like this one here in Bornholm that are the perfect example of how
the European Bison is being brought back with this network of small scale but
really well linked projects.

(European bison in Bornholm)

 And these small scale projects help do a lot more than just spread and breed the
bison. They can help educate people and get them excited about wilderness
coming back.
The european bison population today is of about 10000, being 7000 of these
wild or semi-wild, and still growing, making europe more biodiverse.