Are Munich, Poznan, Katowice, Emmen and Tierpark Berlin, the only holders of these bison?
And if so, are they genetically sound, or is new blood needed?
@chizlit: You catched me
But it had thrown the first ball!
@kiang:
You can see all european zoos at the Zootierliste which are keeping the bison.
I think the european blood line is fresh enough to survice without imports.
all the living wood bisons derive from 20-25 animals, so it's a bit inbreed.
I know that the 3 woodbisons from Emmen were imported from Canada in 2003(?), but I think a bit fresh blood is welcome.
Thanks for that info. If it was left to me I'd have thought they were a branch of the Euro ones.
So are the wood bison smaller than the plains ones? And were they hunted by Native Americans (and almost wiped out by white settlers etc), like their plains cousins?
Wood Bison (Bison bison athabascae) are indeed smaller than Prairie Bison (Bison bison bison - which what most of Europe's American Bison are).
I understand that recent studies do not recognise these as valid subspecies, but treat all American Bison as a single taxon. This is far from proven, though!
