name: Wisent or European bison (Bison bonasus).
body size: Wisent grow up to three meters long, and have a shoulder height of up to two meters. The bulls weigh between 500 kg and 1 ton, cows between 300 and 500 kilograms.
color/coat: The fur of the animals is dark brown. In the area of the front body and on the head, it is longer than in the rest of the body. Bulls like cows wearing small horns curved inward.
life expectancy: wisent cows can live up to 24 years, bulls are rarely older than 16 years.
herd: wisents live in mother groups, consisting of eight to 20 cows, juveniles and calves. Bulls are usually seen in the margin of such groups; they live alone or in associations with up to seven animals.
habitat: Extensive deciduous and mixed forests are the habitat of wisents. The roaming area of a group of wisents is approximately 4,000 acres. This corresponds to the area of almost 6.440 soccer fields.
food: the wisent is a ruminant and feeds exclusively vegetarian stuff. Leaves, young shoots, roots and tree bark are on its menu. It also feeds grass and crops. Adult animals need 30 to 60 kilograms of food per day.
social behavior: wisents are herd animals, where the bulls cut itself off in small groups from the main herd. Only in the mating season, they join the group. A cow leads the herd. Wisents are flight animals and provide generally no risk for humans.
reproduction: the rutting season is typically between August and November. A bull usually mates with several cows. The gestation period is about nine months, so that calves are born in the summer.
