I am interested in the history and conservation of the Wisent. I have read a number of the standard mammal references and the easy to find stuff on the internet. The accounts are confusing and somewhat contradictory. Does anyone know the best source of information and if there is a monograph on the species?
A quick google search found the following publication:- European Bison: The Nature Monograph (Krasińska, Małgorzata & Krasiński, Zbigniew) I am not familiar with this work myself but, if you haven't read it, it might be what you need.
The bits I can download on the internet are excellent. The first edition (2007) is much cheaper than the second (2016). I have ordered a first edition which should have all the historic stuff but will lack some of the more recent genetic research.
You may contact the people directly involved: http://www.smz.waw.pl/en They are generally nice people and keen to exchange news. There is now lots going on with new small herds being released, founder animals being exchanged, and background how to manage herds in landscape of agriculture and commercial forestry.
The monograph on the European Bison is excellent. It is well written with a minimum of jargon and good accounts of the species life history and ecology primarily in the Bialowieza Forest. There are numerous photos and illustrations. The historic sections are good and describe the efforts that went into managing the species in zoos, large natural enclosures and then establishing free-ranging populations. There is a discussion on the management of the two different populations, the nominate form, the Lowland or Bialowieza (Bison bonasus bonasus) line and the Lowland-Caucasian line which are hybrids between Bison bonasus caucasicus and the nominate form. There is mention of how hybrids with North American Bison have been kept separate and are maintained for study. I was hoping here would be a discussion on the hybridisation experiments of the Heck brothers although this is apparently not discussed, although the importance of Berlin Zoo in establishing and maintaining a studbook is. Curiously there is no index and I assume this shortcoming may have been corrected in the second edition.
Has this happened frequently and does it say approximately how many American/European hybrids are still existing?
The people who conducted the hybridisation studies on the Wisent were the dynasty of zoo directors, the Heck family, the brothers; Heinz Heck, the Director of Munich Zoo (1927-1969) and Lutz Heck, director of Berlin Zoo (1932-1945) and their father Ludwig Heck who had been director of Cologne Zoo (1886-1888) and the Berlin Zoo (1888-1931). The family had close connections with the ruling parties of their day and Lutz Heck, had the patronage of the Nazi regime. The Heck family were involved in breeding the then Critically Endangered nominate form of the European Bison or Wisent, which became extinct in the wild in 1919. They established captive populations and to revitalize the inbred Wisent population they hybridized it with American Bison and then selectively bred out the American Bison morphological traits, but maintained the added vigour brought about through hybridization. A studbook for the European Bison was established in 1923 so that inbreeding could be minimized. This was the first studbook for a wild animal. Lutz Heck ransacked the Warsaw Zoo after the Germans invaded Poland and took their Wisent back to Berlin to become part of his breeding programme. The hybridization studies in Berlin came to a halt after World War II, since in the mayhem that resulted from the Russian invasion the animals were slaughtered. Fortunately animals survived elsewhere, both hybrids and pure bred animals. All the Polish animals are I believe pure. There is a population of European x American hybrids living wild in parts of the Caucasus. Some call these Mountain Bison and they are heavily poached but number in the hundreds? These are the bare bones that I have been able to glean. The conservation of the Wisent is a fascinating and complex story that I need to spend more time getting to know better.
Although it is obviously much less detailed than the monograph mentioned earlier there is a rather nice recent publication on bison- · Bison (Desmond Morris; Reaktion Books; 2015) which I saw for the first time today. This book covers both American bison and European bison. (It also includes a brief overview of all the other species of wild cattle too.) In addition to being a zoologist, Desmond Morris is well known for being interested in art and this book includes a fascinating chapter about the prehistoric cave paintings that depict bison. (Watching Desmond Morris on the TV programme “Zoo Time” when I was a very small child did much to inspire my interest in animals; it is nice to know that he was still writing zoology books well into his eighties.)
. I will have to get this book. I have always enjoyed the writings of Desmond Morris since he is such an original and eclectic thinker. Zoo Time did much to inspire me as a young boy. Every Wednesday on ITV at 5 pm. Animal Magic was on at the same time on BBC.
