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Wisent

European Bison
Bison herd thumbnail
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Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Genus: Bison
Species: bonasus
Binomial name
Bison bonasus

The Wisent is the European bison, species Bison bonasus.

The animal was first described in scientific literature by Linnaeus in 1758. It was classified by the IUCN in 1996 as endangered.

The wisent is Europe's heaviest land animal. A typical individual is about 2.9 m long and 1.8 - 1.9 m tall, and weighs 800 to 1000 kg.

Bison-bonasus-thumbnail.jpg

Public domain image from Webster's Dictionary 1911 (larger image)

wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump