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Kingdom: Animalia > Phylum: Chordata > Class: Mammalia > Order: Artiodactyla > Family: Bovidae > Genus: Bison > Species: Bison bonasus

European bison - Bison bonasus (Linnaeus, 1758)

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Quick facts

Threat status Europe	Vulnerable (IUCN)
Protected by	EU Habitats Directive and 2 other international agreements
Natura 2000 sites	15 are designated for this species
Most preferred habitats	grassland woodland and forest
Natura 2000 species code	2647

Distribution

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Threat and conservation status

IUCN Red List status of threatened species

The IUCN Red List threat status assesses the risk of extinction.

World

Vulnerable

Europe

Vulnerable

IUCN Red List Category

Not Evaluated	Near Threatened	Regionally Extinct
Not Applicable	Vulnerable	Extinct in the Wild
Data Deficient	Endangered	Extinct
Least Concern	Critically Endangered

Sources:

EU conservation status

Conservation status assesses every six years and for each biogeographical region the condition of habitats and species compared to the favourable status as described in the Habitats Directive. The map shows the 2013-2018 assessments as reported by EU Member State. Assessments are further detailed in the summary document available behind the link below.

Good: the species is viable and maintaining itself on a long-term basis, its natural range is not reduced, and it has a sufficient large habitat.
Poor: the species is not as critical as being unfavourable-bad, but still requires significant conservation and restoration measure to make it viable in the long-term, or to enlarged its current range, or to improve the quality and availability of its habitat.
Bad: the species is either not maintaining itself on a long-term basis and is not viable, or its natural range as been or is being drastically reduced, or its habitat is largely insufficient; the species requires major conservation and restoration measures.
Unknown: the information available for the species is scarce and does not allow a proper assessment of its conservation status.

Natura 2000 sites

Protected in the following Natura 2000 sites

Sitecode	Country	Site name	Action
PLC180001	Poland	Bieszczady	Map
PLC200004	Poland	Puszcza Białowieska	Map
SKCHVU002	Slovakia	Bukovske vrchy	Map
SKCHVU011	Slovakia	Laborecka vrchovina	Map
ROSCI0126	Romania	Munții Țarcu	Map
PLH320045	Poland	Mirosławiec	Map
ROSCI0270	Romania	Vânători-Neamț	Map
PLH320023	Poland	Jezioro Lubie i Dolina Drawy	Map
SKUEV0387	Slovakia	Beskyd	Map
PLH320011	Poland	Jezioro Wielki Bytyń	Map
PLH320019	Poland	Wolin i Uznam	Map
PLH200006	Poland	Ostoja Knyszyńska	Map
PLH280016	Poland	Ostoja Borecka	Map
SKUEV0229	Slovakia	Bukovske vrchy	Map
PLH200019	Poland	Jelonka	Map

Protected sites

Please note the site map takes a while to display.

Legal status

Mentioned in the following international legal instruments and agreements

Legal text	Annex	More information
Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora - consolidated version 01/01/2007 (EU Habitats Directive)	Annex II: animal and plant species of community interest whose conservation requires the designation of special areas of conservation.	http://ec.europa.eu/environm...rective/index_en.htm
	Annex IV: animal and plant species of community interest in need of strict protection.
Convention on the conservation of European wildlife and natural habitats (Bern Convention)	Annex III: protected fauna species	http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cul.../bern/default_en.asp
	Revised Annex I of Resolution 6 (1998) of the Bern Convention listing the species requiring specific habitat conservation measures (year of revision 2011)	https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc....ckColorLogged=FDC864 Resolution No. 6 (1998) of the Bern Convention lists the species requiring specific habitat conservation measures [and the designation of Areas of Special Conservation Interest (ASCIs) forming for the Emerald network]

Common names and synonyms

Common Name	Language	Reference
Bisão	Portuguese	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Bison	Danish	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Bison d'Europe	French	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Bisonte europeo	Italian	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Bisonte europeo	Spanish	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Bizon	Croatian	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Bizon	Turkish	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Bizoni	Albanian	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Buflu	Maltese	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Euroopa piison	Estonian	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Európai bölény	Hungarian	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
European bison	English	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Pürg	Estonian	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Stumbras	Lithuanian	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Sumbrs	Latvian	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Visent	Norwegian	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Visent	Swedish	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Visentti	Finnish	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Vísundur	Icelandic	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Wisent	Dutch	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Wisent	German	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Zimbru	Romanian	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Zober	Slovenian	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Zubor hrivnatý	Slovak	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
Zubr	Czech	Mitchell-Jones, A.J. & al.
zubr	Polish	Polish NRC

No synonyms available.

Other resources

CoL (accepted name)	Catalogue of Life
EoL	Encyclopedia of Life
Fauna Europaea	Fauna Europaea
GBIF	Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Habitats Directive Art. 17-2006 summary
ITIS (Valid name)	Interagency Taxonomic Information System
NCBI search	National Center for Biotechnology Information
NOBANIS: Bison bonasus	European Network on Invasive Alien Species
PESI (Accepted)	Pan-European Species directories Infrastructure
Wikipedia	Wikipedia

External data

No external data sets available for this species

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