typhlonectes:

Europe Once Had Bison, and now They’re Making a Comeback
           

Just like their American cousins, the bison needed help after their numbers were decimated by habitat loss and hunting

by Marissa Fessenden

The iconic bison of the American plains
isn’t the only large hoofed beast humans have hunted to near
extinction. Wild European bison, also called wisent, are returning to
the lands they dominated in the Pleistocene, thanks to conservation
efforts, reports Jeremy Hance for Mongabay.

Poachers killed the last wild European bison (Bison bonasus)
in 1927, leaving only a handful of the animals in zoos. Today, however,
more than 5,000 bison living in Europe, including 2,300 free-ranging
animals, Hance reports. Historically, the animals have ranged from
France to far into Russia, from Scandinavia to perhaps as far south as
Italy.

(read more: Smithsonian Magazine)

photograph by Cultura/Corbis