Various reasons led to the decrease and even the disappearance of some species of animals and plants. To stop this process, humanity came up with the Red Book. This is a kind of list of endangered birds, animals, insects, etc. Take, for example, such an animal as bison. The Red Data Book of Russia classifies it as an “endangered species.”
History of the Red Book
In 1948, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, or IUCN for short, led the conservation efforts of various organizations active in most parts of the world. Soon the Commission for the Survival of Species was established. The purpose of this commission was to create a global list of endangered animals.
There was a lot of work ahead. It was necessary not only to develop general principles for the protection of rare animals, but also to identify endangered species, make their classification and do much more. When the work was completed, they decided to call the book red becausethat this color signals danger.
The Red Book was first published in 1963 and included a description of 312 species and subspecies of birds and 211 species and subspecies of mammals. Each subsequent edition of it expanded the list of endangered birds and animals. This list also includes bison. The IUCN Red List, however, classifies it as vulnerable, not endangered.
Red Book of Russia
The Red Book of the Russian Federation was published in 2001. Although the Red Book of the RSFSR was taken as the basis, it was a new, thoroughly revised and supplemented edition. It included amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals - 231 taxa. This is 73 percent more than in the previous book. The list of invertebrates, fish and fish-like animals has grown considerably. Some species, after careful processing, on the contrary, were excluded from the list.
However, such an animal as the European bison, the Red Book of the Russian Federation contains in its list. Moreover, the bison is classified as endangered.
Europe's largest mammal
Heavier and larger than a land mammal does not exist in Europe. The bison is very close to its American cousin, the bison.
By weight bison can reach 1 ton, by body length - 330 cm, by height - two meters. Its coat is dark brown in color.
It differs from the bison by a higher hump, longer horns and tail.
The life expectancy of a bison is 23-25 years. Its maximum dimensionsreaches as early as 5-6 years of age.
Bison prefer to live in herds. But, characteristically, the female leads the herd. And it consists mainly of young calves and females. Adult males prefer solitude. The herd is visited only for mating.
By the way, the female bison carries her cub for 9 months too. Only, unlike a human baby, a bison gets up on its legs in an hour and is ready to run after its mother. And after twenty days, he can already eat fresh grass on his own. Although the female does not stop feeding the baby with milk for five months.
There are two subspecies of this large animal - Bialowieza and Caucasian bison. The IUCN Red List of the latter refers to the extinct species.
Bison habitat
In the Middle Ages, this animal lived on a large territory - from Western Siberia to the Iberian Peninsula. However, hunting and poaching have played a role in the sharp decline in their numbers. World War I completed this dirty business.
There is evidence that the last bison living in the wild was destroyed in Belovezhskaya Pushcha in 1921, and in the Caucasus - in 1926. By that time, 66 bison were kept in zoos and private estates.
The International Society for the Conservation of Bison, founded in 1923, was called upon to work to restore the population of such rare animals as the bison. The Red Book had not yet been invented. We can say that the world community has coped with this task. Today bison have even been evicted from zoos to nature and live in Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Moldova, Spain, Ukraine, Germany and Slovakia.
How the bison population was restored
The work to restore the number of bison began before the Second World War, mainly in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, in Poland, and in zoological parks in Europe. It is clear that the war destroyed the results of this work.
Continuation followed after its end. The bison were rescued again in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, but already on the territory of the Soviet Union. This work was crowned with success, and already in 1961 bison began to be resettled in their natural habitat.
By the way, if the Bialowieza bison survived in sufficient numbers for their further reproduction, then the Caucasian survived in captivity only in a single copy. Therefore, I had to start breeding hybrid animals.
Caucasian bison
In another way, it was called dombai and attributed to mountain forest animals. This subspecies of the European bison lived in the forests of the Main Caucasian Range. It was slightly smaller than its European brother and darker in color. In addition, his hair was curled, and his horns curved more strongly.
In terms of life expectancy, the Caucasian bison was somewhat inferior to its Bialowieza counterpart. A little more than 20 years could live the most hardy among them.
However, people tirelessly exterminated this animal. As a result, by the middle of the 19th century, dombaevno more than 2000 individuals remained, and after the First World War - 500 pieces.
The fact of poaching has been established, which finally exterminated the dombai. It happened in 1927 on Mount Alous. It was then that the Caucasian bison disappeared from the face of the earth. The IUCN Red List lists it as an "extinct species".
Revival of bison in the Caucasus
Of course, it wasn't dombai anymore. However, bison appeared again in the Caucasus.
In the summer of 1940, a male and several female bison were brought to the Caucasian Reserve. They were crossed with the Bialowieza-Caucasian bison. The latter are still preserved in some zoos of the world.
The work of scientists was crowned with success. Now the Caucasian bison almost does not differ from the aboriginal of these places dombai. However, bison do not live in free nature. They live only in the reserves: Caucasian and Teberdinsky, as well as in the Tseysky reserve in North Ossetia.
Regional Red Books
Many subjects of the Russian Federation have published their own regional Red Data Books. This was done to give greater importance to the protection of rare species of animals, birds and plants in the regions. Of course, not all of these species are significant on a global scale. But after all, the local flora and fauna are no less important for the population living there than a single endangered species on a global scale.
However, some species of animals from the regional Red Books are of world importance. For example, a bison. The Red Book of the Krasnodar Territory includes this animal. Because the habitat of bison in Russiaalso extends to the basins of the Belaya and Malaya Laba rivers, part of which is located in the Krasnodar Territory. And now there are very few of them. But in the middle of the 19th century, the bison of the Kuban was not uncommon. The Red Book now warns of respect for these animals.
In addition, in Russia, the school educational program aims not only to instill in children a love for their native land, but also to cultivate a caring attitude towards representatives of flora and fauna. One of the most colorful among them is the bison. The Red Book for Children in Pictures shows it in all its glory. This is a clear example of the fact that beautiful animals can disappear from the face of the earth without protection.
Bison nurseries in Russia
The first nursery in Russia was established in 1948 in the Moscow region, in the Serpukhov district, within the boundaries of the biosphere reserve that existed there. Since 1959, a nursery has been operating in the Spassky district of the Ryazan region. Since 1989, there has been a free population of bison in the Vladimir region. Several groups of bison in the amount of 120 individuals live in the Kaluzhskiye Zaseki nature reserve (borders of the Kaluga, Oryol and Tula regions).
In 1996, bison were also brought to the Oryol Polesye National Park, located in the north-west of the Oryol region. Now their population has increased to 208 individuals.
However, most bison live in their homeland - in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, which, as you know, is located on the territory of two states: Belarus and Poland. In the National Park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha"In the Republic of Belarus, the number of bison is 360 individuals, and in Poland - about 400. Together they form the largest population of this rare species in the world. By the way, the symbol of Belarus is the bison. The IUCN Red List, we recall, classifies this animal as vulnerable.
