Posted by: Loren Coleman on June 20th, 2008 The goverment of
Ukraine intends to introduce a threatened species, the European
bison or wisent (Bison bonasus), into the exclusion zone around
the stricken Chernobyl nuclear reactor. The plan is to create a
nature reserve where the bison can thrive in the absence of
humans. The minister in charge of Chernobyl, Volodomir Shandra,
says there are clean areas within the 30-kilometre radius where
the pilot scheme could work. The wisent is the heaviest
surviving land animal in Europe, a relic of the Pleistocene
megafauna of Eurasia. A forest dwelling species, wisent were
first scientifically described by Carolus Linnaeus in 1758. The
last wild wisent in Poland was killed in 1919 and the last wild
wisent in the world was killed by poachers in 1927 in the
Western Caucasus. By that year fewer than 50 remained, all in
zoos. Schleich wisent replica. Wisent were reintroduced
successfully into the wild, beginning in 1951. They are found
living free-ranging in forest preserves