European Bison - The Shy Heavyweights Of The Primeval Forest (201/268)

European Bison - The Shy Heavyweights Of The Primeval Forest (201/268)

Living quietly, hidden away in the dense forest, the shy bison, Europe's largest wild animals, once faced extinction; today they range again through the primeval forests of Eastern Europe. Felix Heidinger has been tracking them.

During the summer, it is hard to even find them in the dense forests despite their being the largest land animals in Europe. In winter, the chances are better: in fresh snow, it is impossible to miss their tracks, and even far back between the trees, their massive black silhouettes are clearly visible. European bison or wisent are, after all, even taller than their American cousins. Wisent are wild cattle, but in their behaviour and shy nature they are more like deer. They are a protected species in their habitat on the Polish-Belorussian border and they need this protection more urgently than any other species of animal: only six individuals survived being hunted by a hungry populace after the First World War. One single bull sired all the European bison alive today, of which more than a thousand now range across Eastern Europe's forests. The film crew is trailing the bison, because since hunting them has been prohibited and their habitat has been protected, a new threat has emerged: a mysterious illness is affecting the bulls making them sterile.

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