| Bison
bonasus hungarorum |
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| Kingdom |
Animalia |
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| Phylum |
Chordata |
| Class |
Mammalia |
| Order |
Artiodactyla |
| Family |
Bovidae |
| Genus |
Bison |
| Species |
Bison bonasus |
| Subspecies |
Bison bonasus hungarorum |
| Authority |
Kretzoi, 1946 |
| |
| English
Name |
Carpathian Bison, Carpathian European Bison, Carpathian Wisent, Hungarian
Bison, Hungarian Wisent |
| Dutch
Name |
Karpatenwisent |
| German
Name |
Karpatenwisent |
| Hungarian
Name |
Kárpáti
Bölény, Erdélyi Bölény, Erdélyi Európai Bölény |
| Norwegian
Name |
Karpatisk
Visent, Ungarsk Visent |
| Polish
Name |
Żubr
Węgierski |
| Slovak
Name |
Zubor
Uhorský, Zubor Karpatský |
| |
| Taxonomy |
There
is not much known about this so-called subspecies of European bison. It is
even possible that it is not a valid subspecies, because to introduce a
subspecies on the very limited material at hand by Kretzoi seems very
doubtful. |
| |
| Characteristics |
The
Carpathian bison was similar to the Caucasian
subspecies, Bison
bonasus caucasicus.
It differed from the Lowland bison (Bison
bonasus bonasus)
by its smaller size, a slender constitution, a flat frontal skull surface,
short and curly fur, and a brush at the tail. All adaptations to a
highland environment. Kretzoi writes that the difference with the
Caucasian bison is that the Carpathian bison is much smaller. Its shoulder
height compared to the pelvis is much lower, almost like cattle. Another
difference would be that the ends of the horns are turned backwards.
However, the form of the horns can still be found in some populations,
like in Sweden and the Wolin National Park. Polish bison specialists
declared this just a variety. However it cannot be excluded that the horns
do originate from a Carpathian subspecies. Some scientists also think that
it is quite possible that the European bison and Aurochs Bos taurus
primigenius (extinct wild cattle) interbred, what might have given a
cattle-like back. It would have been possible, as it is known that
previously there have been European bison hybrids with cattle produced in
various zoos. |
| |
| Range
& Habitat |
 The
Carpathian bison lived in the Carpathian mountains and Transylvania. The
Carpathian Mountain chain stretches in an arc from the Czech Republic in the northwest to Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine and Romania in the east, to the Iron Gates on the Danube River between Romania and Serbia in the
south (Wikipedia
contributors, 2008).
Image: map showing the possible
previous range of the Carpathian bison (in red). Created by Peter Maas
for The Extinction Website. This
image has been released under
the Creative
Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 3.0 Licence.
|
| |
| History
& Population |
Three
subspecies of European bison are recognized at this moment, namely the
Lowland bison Bison bonasus bonasus (Linnaeus, 1758), Carpathian
bison Bison bonasus hungarorum Kretzoi, 1946 and the Caucasian
bison Bison bonasus caucasicus Turkin et Satunin, 1904.
In
1946 M. Kretzoi writes that it is possible to claim that the Carpathian
mountains once was populated with a subspecies of European bison. It was
based on a skeleton from a female European bison with no horns, on the
skull of a male bison with one horn, and comparing these remains with
paintings in Vienna from the 17th and 18th
centuries.
The
Austrian capital Vienna has a theatre for animal fights, until it burned
down in 1796. European bison were a popular adversary in the theatre, as
mainly dogs were used for animal fights. Hungarians supplied European
bison for the fights. They caught them in Siebenbürgen.
In
1790 the “game master” in Vienna was worried about the long transports
of European bison from Lithuania. He was been told that the last European
bison in the Carpathian mountains had died. |
| |
| Extinction
Causes |
Hunting,
and probably destruction of their habitat. |
| |
| Museum
Specimens |
A
skeleton of a female and a skull of a male should exist, as Kretzoi based
this subspecies partly on these remains. |
| |
| Relatives |
The
closest living relatives of the Carpathian bison are the surviving
European bison Bison bonasus from the Lowland-Caucasian Breeding
line. Another very close relative is the only surviving pure subspecies of
the European bison, namely the Lowland bison, Bison bonasus bonasus.
The American bison Bison bison is another living close relative.
The European-American bison hybrids living in the Caucasian mountains also
contain genes from one Caucasian bison bull. These hybrids are recently
described as a different subspecies, the Highland bison Bison bonasus
montanus. |
| |
| Links |
Bison
Newsletter 1/95 (Excerpt)
|
| |
| Articles
& Reports |
Puzek,
Z., et al., 2002, European Bison Bison bonasus: Current state of
the species and an action plan for its conservation. Mammal Research
Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Bialowieza.
Rautian
G.S., Kalabushkin B.A., Nemtsev A.S. 2000. A new subspecies of the
European bison, Bison bonasus montanus ssp. nov. (Bovidae,
Artiodactyla). Doklady Biological Sciences. 375, 4: 563-567.
Wikipedia contributors (2008),
'Carpathian Mountains', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 15 August
2008, 12:22 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carpathian_Mountains&oldid=232094769>
[accessed 6 September 2008]
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|
Last
updated: 7th January 2009.
This
page is a part of The
Extinction Website.
© 2000-2009. |