🐃European bison
The European bison or the European wood bison, also known as the wisent, the zubr, or sometimes colloquially as the European buffalo, is a European species of bison. It is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the American bison. The European bison is the heaviest wild land animal in Europe, and individuals in the past may have been even larger than their modern-day descendants. During late antiquity and the Middle Ages, bison became extinct in most of Europe and Asia, surviving into the 20th century only in northern-central Europe and the northern Caucasus Mountains. During the early years of the 20th century, the remaining bison were hunted to extinction in the wild, with domestic bison later reintroduced into the wild.
Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
IUCN Red List assessment, 2020.
- Body mass
- 625 kg
- Body length
- 2.9 m
- Shoulder height
- 1.72 m
- Top speed
- not recorded
- Bite force
- not recorded
- Maximum lifespan
- 33 years
Everything we know about the European bison
Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.
Body mass625 kgCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 610 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length2.9 mCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Shoulder height1.72 maverageOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Species-level value synthesised as the mean of: male.
By sex
- Male1.72 mKrasinska & Krasinski 2002, Acta Theriologica 47:85-106, Table 8 (authors' own Bialowieza data), https://www.ibs.bialowieza.pl/g2/pdf/1357.pdfMEASURED, Bialowieza free-ranging and captive-centre animals. Withers height, males >=6 years (table row): n 39, mean "172", min-max "158-188" cm; females >=6 years: n 87, mean 152, 134-167 cm. ADW's 1.8-1.95 m 'height' exceeds these measured means -- prefer this primary dataset.
Maximum lifespan33 yearsCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 26 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Generation length9.84 yearsCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Age at maturity2.3 yearsCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Gestation274 daysCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 270 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Litter size1COMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 1AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Trophic levelHerbivoreCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Activity cycleCrepuscular / mixedCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Home range7.91 km²COMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Population density0.88 per km²COMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Volume l625 LaverageDetails ↓Hide ↑
Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.
average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.
Not recorded for European bison yet: top speed, bite force.
Family tree
- kingdomAnimalia
- ›phylumChordata
- ›classMammalia
- ›orderArtiodactyla
- ›familyBovidae
- ›genusBison
- ›speciesBison bonasus
- classMammals · Mammalia
- orderEven-toed hoofed animals · Artiodactyla
- familyBovidae
- subfamilyBovinae
All 15 branches ↓Fewer branches ↑
- kingdomMetazoa
- phylumChordata
- subphylumCraniata
- subphylumVertebrata
- superclassGnathostomata
- superclassSarcopterygii
- superclassTetrapoda
- classMammals · Mammalia
- subclassTheria
- superorderLaurasiatheria
- orderEven-toed hoofed animals · Artiodactyla
- suborderRuminantia
- infraorderPecora
- familyBovidae
- subfamilyBovinae
More about the European bison
Animals caught on camera
Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.
Compare the European bison
Pick a tool — the European bison is already selected.
Compare every stat with any other animal.
Stand them on the same floor and see who's bigger.
How speed, brain and bite scale with body size. This animal isn't in the sample yet.
See where it sits in the tree of life.