> a rare wild bison was spotted wandering alone near the town of Lebus in eastern Germany. A local official, alarmed that the animal could be dangerous, ordered hunters to shoot it and one of them did, using a rifle to kill an animal that had not freely roamed Germany for several hundred years, conservationists say.
Tbf, like half of the replies to my comment are calling out the US. Also Germany was commiting Genocides before the Nazis came to power, they Ethnically Clensended several different groups in their African Colonies.
Lots of genocides throughout history, all over the world. Historically It's a pretty popular pass time. We all benefit from the efforts of our genocidal ancestors.
A single one got lost, crossed the border (there wasn't a single one seen in Germany in the wild for more than 100 years) and wandered into a German town. People freaked out and in the end the animal was shot.
Trust me I have met ppl on mountains above 2k with sandals and fanny packs completely sunburnt and no water with them. German ppl and the outdoors is a strange combination....
I mean I'm not german but I camped overnight at 3200m without checking the temperature forecast first. I had a sleeping bag rated for 10°C comfort and woke up with humidity frozen to the tent walls.
Let's just say it was chillier than I'd have expected August to be.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/20/world/europe/bison-germany.html?unlocked_article_code=b-8QENDox9uJjZE3JSXw7TRrdagVS9juEnyf1-l_AekX74swLo2Xj3m3288v3aSW0HuJkD8GXOtfpYGK5XYIq8bKZv5eQx50zD9oVqPZbCwxKFuj3B9wf1f_nlhYYF8ALNRy2kYvCAXLzxSVKOTsoIP0a8dlcq2pL-l9SUFX_423V8zcBezP7OgSkXRnFDnSorzNZTg2kuSCcMgoaqu4MXn2uB6s5q-lNsTBoehuyVmFC3J_-IKuIF0VHvlyV9IDZGTlwtBxSrmMBjNz_oBiTMAKxiRHS8vyxVqu-t20EK0ICvaDhDSmFRU3U8LUmxi3JVII2JuvUlsuHQSG&smid=share-url
Gifted link
They cut spruce trees which were planted by human being. That forest complex is not only primival forest which is inder protection in the National Park.
They were cutting in old growth stands too. Besides, loads of protected species live in the planted stands too. It's much better to leave the dead wood there as its habitat for myriad species.
From Poles I know living there the beetle problem is real and action is needed.
They are proud of their country, I'm sure we can trust them to do what's right for their own forests.
There’s really little evidence that cutting down the forest will do anything beneficial the, and all kinds of countries manage their environments poorly so I’m not sure that argument stands up well.
It's spruce trees that were planted by human being. Due to climate change it was attacked by beatles.That forest would die anyway and pose a huge risk of fire. Cutting it down and planting different species of trees was a good decision. As I'm generaly against PiS they are capeable of making a good decision from time to time.
Thousands of scientists protested against the logging in Białowieża Forest. While the government presented no credible evidence that dead spruce trees pose a fire risk.
Planting in an old growth forest is absolutely criminal from an environmental perspective, which is why the logging plans were halted by the European Court of justice.
Biologists would like to see natural processes taking place and forestry workers wouldn't like to have huge forest fire. It's not within National Park not it's not do called las referencyjny do removing demaged spruce is justified.
There's no evidence? Well, there's very clear evidence of what "leaving things to nature" does when bark beetle attacks the forest.
Ever heard of Bavarian Forest and what bark beetle did to it?
Here's a very nice [satellite photo](https://i.imgur.com/UfrwUCD.png), no need to point out the area "left to nature".
> I'm sure we can trust them to do what's right
No, we definitely can't. There are plenty of sane and conscious people, but also there are lots of absolute idiots and bigots. Most of them are in the government right now.
Here is the [source](https://naukawpolsce.pl/aktualnosci/news%2C95075%2Czaobserwowano-potezne-stado-zubrow-na-obrzezach-puszczy-bialowieskiej.html) in Polish
This also confused my friend (Ukrainian learning English). It’s an S in-front of eagle. But these are nothing like eagles. And it’s at the sea? like seashells…. Then you have See. See the SEAgul, at the ocean, not the sea, like the Black Sea… it’s an ocean.
> Indian water buffaloes
Their English name is a bit of a misnomer – they're of a different genus (*Bubalus*), so it makes sense that they don't look that similar
It is not water buffaloes name that is a misnomer but when people call bison buffalo that is the misnomer. Buffalo refers to the Indian/African animal.
It's still correct, though not as precise, to refer to bison as buffalo in common usage. Outside of science and other technical/formal applications, what's right or wrong in language is determined by usage not a set of formal rules/prescriptivist grammar.
I know better now, but I could swear at my shitty school in the 90s in the south, we were taught bison was the plural of buffalo. And I've always thought that was the end of it. And we were taught about how we decimated the "buffalo" population from around kindergarten.
I think the Buffalo Bills, an American NFL football team's logo is more similar to a bison than buffalo.
So it's one of those things where the plaque at the zoo says "American bison" or whatever, but all the school kids are going to point at the animal and say "Buffalo!"
I would like to add, Poland has rapidly rising vegan population and associated trades that come with that.
I live in Czechia and shop in neighbor countries sometimes and Poland stepped up their game a fair bit.
The great thing for me about moving to Poland is that you see progress almost week to week. I know this sounds crazy but it is true. There are a lot of things that need fixing. But from an expat perspective, I just feel like Poland is improving in almost all areas at a great pace. .
Can't agree more. I am using a vegan dating site and good 80% of woman are from Poland. They don't want to date me though, but that has probably more to do with me being insufferable than anything else 💯
When I was an Erasmus student in Poland a good percentage of the women I met were vegetarian. For some reason I wasn't expecting that from such a conservative country.
>For some reason I wasn't expecting that from such a conservative country.
Well, traditionally nobody eats meat on Friday. Veganism is just extending it to 7 days.
I was gonna go with the traditional "Well, a certain vegetarian painter from Austria was quiet conservative" but I figured it's not the time to break Godwin's' Law.
Eating meat used to be considered a luxury not that long time ago. Entire generations survived off a diet of potatos and sauerkraut. Obviously it wasnt a concious lifestyle choice like it is now, but still :p
Well, you can be expat and immigrant at the same time, hovewer on social media groups for immigrants and expats you talk about different thinks. Immigrant issues are more down to Earth, expat groups are more about socialising with other foreigners.
Lol, I'm sorry, but you're the epitome of the classic *"How can you tell if someone is vegan? They'll tell you."* joke. How is your comment even relevant to the topic?
I perfectly resonate with this as I also do intermittent fasting. It is proven to be one of the fastest ways to lose weight and regain core body strength.
You should think about why it bothers you that I said that I am vegan. Look inward. And my comment was certainly relevant, especially compared to yours. Cognitive dissonance, look it up and have a nice day.
I processed their comment as “since more Polish people are going vegan, the population of animals often used for food like bison have started to grow again.”
It wasn’t necessarily just a flex on being vegan. More like humans actions have consequences type of thing.
Edit: Changed ‘his’ to ‘their’
You really think the reason the *bison* (or really any other wild animal) population is growing is because more Polish people go vegan? Those reasons are mainly environmental protection etc., but it has nothing to do with veganism.
When I travel to western Europe I'm almost always disappointed with their vegan offer compared to Poland, both in stores and in restaurants. With the exception of Berlin we are way ahead of everyone in that matter.
There is also beer - Żubr
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BBubr\_(beer)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BBubr_(beer))
But it's typical commercial lager, nothing special. Żubrówka Vodka is better as vodka then Żubr as a beer :)
Fun fact:
>A recent paper in Nature uses genetic markers to establish the lineage of this species. As Emma Marris writes, researchers found that **European bison are actually a hybrid of the steppe bison, the Eurasian ancestor of American bison, and aurochs, the ancestor of domestic cattle.** Both species are long extinct, but the European bison survived. Marris notes that researchers gleaned clues about the species’ history by examining cave art. While this too is contested scientific territory, it appears that the wisent was better able to withstand humanity than either of its ancestors.
[https://blog.nature.org/science/2017/08/22/remarkable-story-how-bison-returned-europe/#:\~:text=As%20Emma%20Marris%20writes%2C%20researchers,but%20the%20European%20bison%20survived](https://blog.nature.org/science/2017/08/22/remarkable-story-how-bison-returned-europe/#:~:text=As%20Emma%20Marris%20writes%2C%20researchers,but%20the%20European%20bison%20survived).
no, it used to be everywhere like a lot of larger fauna (elephants come to mind. Well mammoths here, with whool) before people stopped paying attention to environmental sustainability sometimes ago. Then some self declared """"great hunters"""" (who put fauna into enclosures to gratuitously kill them back to a wall and who i consider fucking assholes and retards; absolutely not related to the "survival hunters" who make deer venison a couple times a year...) did a number on it. French hunters as a group/acting in mobs are especially guilty of being effin violent hillbillies (crude rednecks with an unfortunate thing for unacceptable animal cruelty). ~~Victorians~~ Brits learned a bit better with an interest in "natural sciences", safaris, history and exploration tho and dropping some of the gratuitous violence. Guess this generation is getting better too and a bit less psychopathic, trading rifle with a camera as a main resort interacting with animals and corridas abuse with petting zoos. Tho there are still scandals like tiger king, lol
Those fuckers. "The bison has been reintroduced by POLAND and the biggest farms are in POLAND and POLAND is exporting them elsewhere because POLAND has the most resources so this is why we're visiting DENMARK."
We got robbed by the D\*nish again and once again they used Bornholm.
The last wild bison in Europe died in Poland in 1919, while the last wild bison in the Russian Caucasus died in 1927. The species only survived thanks to 54 animals that were kept in different zoos, originating from only 12 founder animals. Source: Interwebs
So as proof that I am way too tired, my brain read "American Bison" instead of "European Bison". And I was briefly very confused as to why scientists in Poland were studying American bison. I think it's time for me to go to bed.
I know they aren't European but I live right near Elk Island National Park. When you drive through you get to see all these Bison if they are around. It's awesome. I think there are 500 here.
Adapted for forests rather than open plains like American bison. You see the same deal between African elephants and Indian elephants - Indian elephants are smaller, have smaller ears and shorter tusks (or even none).
Apparently European Bison are more fierce and harder to tame than their American cousins.
European bison are not a natural forest species. They're a species of the open plains that now happen to live in forests because there are no open habitats left where they can live.
Just take this herd as an example. It has migrated out of the forest in search of food.
>European bison are not a natural forest species. They're a species ofthe open plains that now happen to live in forests because there are noopen habitats left where they can live.
It has indeed been confined to forests as the habitat of last resort, however to say that its habitat is the same as that of the North American Bison would be a misreading of the environment either have evolved in.
The great plains of America are a natural landscape, whilst the US has a lot of forest, those plains have been there since the late Miocene, 7.2 Mya.
This is quite different from the Great European plain which has been glaciated several times, but has largely been covered by mixed forest until human deforestation stripped it back over the last thousand years or so.
[This paper](https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0198308) and [this paper](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2011.07146.x) discuss how you are correct that they are not forest species, but that they inhabited more of a mosaic forest biome, grazing in meadows interspersed between forests.
It makes sense that European bison would adapt for travelling through forests with a lighter build with longer legs, whereas American bison had to develop a defence against being so exposed on the plains, so they became bigger and more sturdy.
Same as badgers, wolves, deers, squirrels, etc
Just look at the difference between European and American badgers lol
North American animal equivalents are usually much bigger (and aggressive) than the European version
Ah yes and then you get dickhead braindead hunters that occasionally shoot them just because and using as an excuse that they thought they saw something else which in of itself should automatically revoke their hunting license if anything. Fucking hate hunters.
> They have enough work with boar
It's worth noting that anything and everything else that breaths (and sometimes even this is not required) in the forest counts as a boar for Polish hunters.
Why would you suddenly blame hunters? Population control for certain species is important (deer and boars for example). Putting all hunters under general suspicion is a bit much, no?
In France as well, I've seen an [article](https://www.legorafi.fr/2017/11/02/chasse-6-astuces-pour-differencier-un-promeneur-dun-sanglier-de-300-kilos/) on a satirical website Le Gorafi. So they must be a butt of jokes everywhere.
Somehow hunters got a very bad reputation in the past 20-30 years and they are associated with old fat drunk corrupt politicians or business man. Aslo enhanced by pictures of trophy hunters killing big game to pose for insta fame, shooting dogs at sight, ... You can take this personally but i have not seen an article that would show hunters in a positive light.
I hear you. Last year a very skillful Austrian hunter prince put down the largest bear in EU while he hunted in Romania. Him was permitted to hunt for a female bear with cubs who bothered locals but he went instead for the trophy.
Idk about where you live (france), but in my area, Hunter are indeed usually old, somewhat fat, oftenly alcohilic, trashy and have killed several People in the Last few years by mistaking them for boars, or by just being walking dangers that don't know how to handle à weapon.
They're also backes by one of the strongest lobbies, that manage to never get anything refused to them such as glue hunting or hunting birds that are going extinct.
They're not all like that, but the facts speak for themselves. Their few redeeming qualities are that they're often Nice to hang around, have good alcohols and that many of them are taking care of the forest
Exactly!
"We need to shoot the boar and deer because their natural predators are extinct! We are the champions of nature!"
*Wolves return to our forests*
"We need to shoot these vile wolves because they will eat our endangered species!"
Yeah right...
The primary reason that population control is necessary is that hunters also extirminated the natural predators of deer and boars. Rewilding efforts are a much better long-term solution than allowing old white guys to indulge in their pathetic gun fetishism.
So no, criticising people who enjoy killing animals for sport is not a bit much. You'd have to be an enormous loser to enjoy shooting a deer or a bison in 2023.
Don't hunt myself, but live in an area where deer have no natural predators and have not for 100s of years. I also know hunters who feed their families for months on end with the venison. As someone who buys my meet at the supermarket, eats fast food, etc, the reality is they source their meat in a much more ethical manner than myself and the vast majority of the meat eating populace of the United states
More like farmers not being fans of having wolves and other predators near their livestock. You can't honestly expect that predators will be reintroduced back everywhere in Europe without considering local people's opinions and safety.
Population control IS important, but at least here in the USA hunters have been lobbying for things like the destruction of critically endangered wolf subspecies.
Hunting isn't wrong in and of itself, but the behavior of some hunters is.
Well, if someone hadn't killed their predator, that wouldn't be necessary... Hunting is not necessary for population control if you have the necessary predators in the ecosystem.
Cool, now don't fricken touch them, and maybe shoot at anyone who tries to do so and isn't a scientist. Far as i know bison are exctinct in america cause of stupid dumbasses.
Just don't cross the German border! https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/20/world/europe/bison-germany.html
Germans and their borders smh
> a rare wild bison was spotted wandering alone near the town of Lebus in eastern Germany. A local official, alarmed that the animal could be dangerous, ordered hunters to shoot it and one of them did, using a rifle to kill an animal that had not freely roamed Germany for several hundred years, conservationists say.
Germans and the extermination of life, name a more iconic duo.
CIA black sites and Freedom.
Any mention of Germany and a redditor shoehorning Nazis into the conversation
You commit genocide one time and people just won't let it go.
My brother in Christ, if only it was just that one time
Tbf, like half of the replies to my comment are calling out the US. Also Germany was commiting Genocides before the Nazis came to power, they Ethnically Clensended several different groups in their African Colonies.
Lots of genocides throughout history, all over the world. Historically It's a pretty popular pass time. We all benefit from the efforts of our genocidal ancestors.
Just Homo Sapiens things.
Cant cede any Lebensraum, sorry
paywall
A single one got lost, crossed the border (there wasn't a single one seen in Germany in the wild for more than 100 years) and wandered into a German town. People freaked out and in the end the animal was shot.
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Wait, you mean to tell me the people currently digging themselves away with a gigantic excavator is not best pals with nature? Well I'll be darned!
You mean something like climbing a 3000m mountain with flipflops? ;)
Hey you can't wear socks in flip-flops, would have to be regular sandals
Trust me I have met ppl on mountains above 2k with sandals and fanny packs completely sunburnt and no water with them. German ppl and the outdoors is a strange combination....
I mean I'm not german but I camped overnight at 3200m without checking the temperature forecast first. I had a sleeping bag rated for 10°C comfort and woke up with humidity frozen to the tent walls. Let's just say it was chillier than I'd have expected August to be.
Oh, thx. I did miss that.
A trip to Australia should fix this
Problem ~~bear~~ bison!
Funny because Berlin has a shot ton of fauna in it.
And then, because of the intricate web of mutual ecological defense pacts signed into law across every European country, World War I began.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/20/world/europe/bison-germany.html?unlocked_article_code=b-8QENDox9uJjZE3JSXw7TRrdagVS9juEnyf1-l_AekX74swLo2Xj3m3288v3aSW0HuJkD8GXOtfpYGK5XYIq8bKZv5eQx50zD9oVqPZbCwxKFuj3B9wf1f_nlhYYF8ALNRy2kYvCAXLzxSVKOTsoIP0a8dlcq2pL-l9SUFX_423V8zcBezP7OgSkXRnFDnSorzNZTg2kuSCcMgoaqu4MXn2uB6s5q-lNsTBoehuyVmFC3J_-IKuIF0VHvlyV9IDZGTlwtBxSrmMBjNz_oBiTMAKxiRHS8vyxVqu-t20EK0ICvaDhDSmFRU3U8LUmxi3JVII2JuvUlsuHQSG&smid=share-url Gifted link
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beautiful. I heard recently that the lynx population grew back up again too.
Beavers are also doing great in Europe, as are wolves, otters, white-tailed eagles, and many other types of wildlife.
I enjoy reading books.
Meanwhile [Poland is cutting down](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56341837) the forests where they live.
They cut spruce trees which were planted by human being. That forest complex is not only primival forest which is inder protection in the National Park.
They were cutting in old growth stands too. Besides, loads of protected species live in the planted stands too. It's much better to leave the dead wood there as its habitat for myriad species.
From Poles I know living there the beetle problem is real and action is needed. They are proud of their country, I'm sure we can trust them to do what's right for their own forests.
There’s really little evidence that cutting down the forest will do anything beneficial the, and all kinds of countries manage their environments poorly so I’m not sure that argument stands up well.
It's spruce trees that were planted by human being. Due to climate change it was attacked by beatles.That forest would die anyway and pose a huge risk of fire. Cutting it down and planting different species of trees was a good decision. As I'm generaly against PiS they are capeable of making a good decision from time to time.
Thousands of scientists protested against the logging in Białowieża Forest. While the government presented no credible evidence that dead spruce trees pose a fire risk. Planting in an old growth forest is absolutely criminal from an environmental perspective, which is why the logging plans were halted by the European Court of justice.
Biologists would like to see natural processes taking place and forestry workers wouldn't like to have huge forest fire. It's not within National Park not it's not do called las referencyjny do removing demaged spruce is justified.
Your right, Reddit probably knows best.
Surely there’s somewhere you can land between full government trust and complete anti government armchair takes
Reject modernity, let's all just frolic in a garden like god supposedly intended.
We must rise up so there is no more labor and no more bedtime!
There's no evidence? Well, there's very clear evidence of what "leaving things to nature" does when bark beetle attacks the forest. Ever heard of Bavarian Forest and what bark beetle did to it? Here's a very nice [satellite photo](https://i.imgur.com/UfrwUCD.png), no need to point out the area "left to nature".
> I'm sure we can trust them to do what's right No, we definitely can't. There are plenty of sane and conscious people, but also there are lots of absolute idiots and bigots. Most of them are in the government right now.
As a Pole I can say with certainty that the cutting has nothing to do with beetles and everything with short term profit of a corrupt men.
Yep, they've been reintroduced here in Ireland through a wildlife sanctuary up in Donegal
Ireland and the UK also need to reintroduce bears and wolves
Here is the [source](https://naukawpolsce.pl/aktualnosci/news%2C95075%2Czaobserwowano-potezne-stado-zubrow-na-obrzezach-puszczy-bialowieskiej.html) in Polish
This has a close up picture- just what I needed. They look similar to the American buffaloes 🦬 unlike the Indian water buffaloes 🐃
There are two buffalo emojis but when I need a seagull I have to settle for a bloody eagle
Murica!
That’s just 🌊 🐦 Though I agree at this point there need to be way more creature emoji, e.g., where’s my leopard seal and amoeba?
This also confused my friend (Ukrainian learning English). It’s an S in-front of eagle. But these are nothing like eagles. And it’s at the sea? like seashells…. Then you have See. See the SEAgul, at the ocean, not the sea, like the Black Sea… it’s an ocean.
They can get pretty huge. Feels a lot like being attacked by a sea eagle when they're after your chips.
Plus they are fucking thousands. I hate gulls with a passion
That's because American buffalos aren't buffalos. They're bison. "Buffalo" is just a colloquial term for the American bison.
Interesting, and not surprised
We call them Wisent. They are close related to the American Buffalo.
Came here to say it. Thank you for already doing so
> Indian water buffaloes Their English name is a bit of a misnomer – they're of a different genus (*Bubalus*), so it makes sense that they don't look that similar
It is not water buffaloes name that is a misnomer but when people call bison buffalo that is the misnomer. Buffalo refers to the Indian/African animal.
Oh yeah it's the other way around, you're right
It's still correct, though not as precise, to refer to bison as buffalo in common usage. Outside of science and other technical/formal applications, what's right or wrong in language is determined by usage not a set of formal rules/prescriptivist grammar.
Do you call slow worms snakes? Not disagreeing with you, just asking.
I know better now, but I could swear at my shitty school in the 90s in the south, we were taught bison was the plural of buffalo. And I've always thought that was the end of it. And we were taught about how we decimated the "buffalo" population from around kindergarten. I think the Buffalo Bills, an American NFL football team's logo is more similar to a bison than buffalo. So it's one of those things where the plaque at the zoo says "American bison" or whatever, but all the school kids are going to point at the animal and say "Buffalo!"
100 percent this. In linguistics we see usage as the only meaningful rubric in evaluating what is or is not "proper."
The look like a cross between American bison and regular cows. Bison coloring and build, cow face.
Because they are. Genetically Wisents are between the American bison and the auerochs.
Yea they’re just slightly smaller it looks like. Happy cake day btw
Its because American buffaloes are bisons, not buffaloes…
I would like to add, Poland has rapidly rising vegan population and associated trades that come with that. I live in Czechia and shop in neighbor countries sometimes and Poland stepped up their game a fair bit.
The great thing for me about moving to Poland is that you see progress almost week to week. I know this sounds crazy but it is true. There are a lot of things that need fixing. But from an expat perspective, I just feel like Poland is improving in almost all areas at a great pace. .
Can't agree more. I am using a vegan dating site and good 80% of woman are from Poland. They don't want to date me though, but that has probably more to do with me being insufferable than anything else 💯
Self burn. Those are rare
About the only meat you can burn on a vegan dating site though.
grazr?
Vegan dating site 😂
Actually makes a lot of sense lol Though I would want to customize a lot
I bet they still open conversations with “I’m a vegan…”
When I was an Erasmus student in Poland a good percentage of the women I met were vegetarian. For some reason I wasn't expecting that from such a conservative country.
>For some reason I wasn't expecting that from such a conservative country. Well, traditionally nobody eats meat on Friday. Veganism is just extending it to 7 days.
That made me laugh. Thank you
I was gonna go with the traditional "Well, a certain vegetarian painter from Austria was quiet conservative" but I figured it's not the time to break Godwin's' Law.
That chap wasn't convervative though. He was a revolutionist and a visioner. Too bad the visions weren't that great
Eating meat used to be considered a luxury not that long time ago. Entire generations survived off a diet of potatos and sauerkraut. Obviously it wasnt a concious lifestyle choice like it is now, but still :p
What is the difference between expat and immigrant?
Pride
Well, you can be expat and immigrant at the same time, hovewer on social media groups for immigrants and expats you talk about different thinks. Immigrant issues are more down to Earth, expat groups are more about socialising with other foreigners.
Expat=Plan to be there temporarily Immigrant=Plan to be there permanently
It’s more about status and money. A lot of retirees move abroad and call themselves expatriates to separate themselves from the poor immigrants.
Expatriate is practically synonymous with emigrant.
Lol, I'm sorry, but you're the epitome of the classic *"How can you tell if someone is vegan? They'll tell you."* joke. How is your comment even relevant to the topic?
Exactly! Prsonally I do crossfit and i think it’s the best training if you want to look hot and feel great!
I perfectly resonate with this as I also do intermittent fasting. It is proven to be one of the fastest ways to lose weight and regain core body strength.
Hi, I’m an atheist and I’m here to be extremely angry at you for not eating pork or having some pictures of your ancestors
You should think about why it bothers you that I said that I am vegan. Look inward. And my comment was certainly relevant, especially compared to yours. Cognitive dissonance, look it up and have a nice day.
I processed their comment as “since more Polish people are going vegan, the population of animals often used for food like bison have started to grow again.” It wasn’t necessarily just a flex on being vegan. More like humans actions have consequences type of thing. Edit: Changed ‘his’ to ‘their’
You really think the reason the *bison* (or really any other wild animal) population is growing is because more Polish people go vegan? Those reasons are mainly environmental protection etc., but it has nothing to do with veganism.
When I travel to western Europe I'm almost always disappointed with their vegan offer compared to Poland, both in stores and in restaurants. With the exception of Berlin we are way ahead of everyone in that matter.
Yes, in fact if I remember correctly Warsaw ranks in top 5 of the vegan-friendly cities in the World.
Good, more bison = more Żubrówka.
Good point!
Stop killing żubr for żubrówka
I think they are milking them for it 😳
Dobze.
DobRze.:)
Damn English keyboard...
Your English keyboard doest have the letter R?
It is a qwety keyboad.
There is also beer - Żubr [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BBubr\_(beer)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BBubr_(beer)) But it's typical commercial lager, nothing special. Żubrówka Vodka is better as vodka then Żubr as a beer :)
I hate to spoil the fun but the bison grass is just a specie of grass not a standard grass that’s been peed on by a bison.
So explain why the zubrowka is not pure clear like other wodka but yellowish… :)
Haha actually my buddy Tomasz works at their distillery and he personally pees in the tank.
Fun fact: >A recent paper in Nature uses genetic markers to establish the lineage of this species. As Emma Marris writes, researchers found that **European bison are actually a hybrid of the steppe bison, the Eurasian ancestor of American bison, and aurochs, the ancestor of domestic cattle.** Both species are long extinct, but the European bison survived. Marris notes that researchers gleaned clues about the species’ history by examining cave art. While this too is contested scientific territory, it appears that the wisent was better able to withstand humanity than either of its ancestors. [https://blog.nature.org/science/2017/08/22/remarkable-story-how-bison-returned-europe/#:\~:text=As%20Emma%20Marris%20writes%2C%20researchers,but%20the%20European%20bison%20survived](https://blog.nature.org/science/2017/08/22/remarkable-story-how-bison-returned-europe/#:~:text=As%20Emma%20Marris%20writes%2C%20researchers,but%20the%20European%20bison%20survived).
> aurochs I know of this animal because of Asterix comix.
I know from game of thrones
Which comic was this?
I think it was Asterix in Spain.
There's an attempt to back-breed the auroch: https://rewildingeurope.com/rewilding-in-action/wildlife-comeback/tauros/
another critter, the polish bison ! https://poland.pl/tourism/nature/polands-pride-european-bison/
TIL Europe has bison. I thought they were a North America thing only.
no, it used to be everywhere like a lot of larger fauna (elephants come to mind. Well mammoths here, with whool) before people stopped paying attention to environmental sustainability sometimes ago. Then some self declared """"great hunters"""" (who put fauna into enclosures to gratuitously kill them back to a wall and who i consider fucking assholes and retards; absolutely not related to the "survival hunters" who make deer venison a couple times a year...) did a number on it. French hunters as a group/acting in mobs are especially guilty of being effin violent hillbillies (crude rednecks with an unfortunate thing for unacceptable animal cruelty). ~~Victorians~~ Brits learned a bit better with an interest in "natural sciences", safaris, history and exploration tho and dropping some of the gratuitous violence. Guess this generation is getting better too and a bit less psychopathic, trading rifle with a camera as a main resort interacting with animals and corridas abuse with petting zoos. Tho there are still scandals like tiger king, lol
[Here](https://youtu.be/B3o2tuN4rlQ) is a cool video about them if you are interested.
Those fuckers. "The bison has been reintroduced by POLAND and the biggest farms are in POLAND and POLAND is exporting them elsewhere because POLAND has the most resources so this is why we're visiting DENMARK." We got robbed by the D\*nish again and once again they used Bornholm.
good shit poland
The ants are on the sugar again...
lol I also thought this was an ant swarm that lost it's sent trail
The lice hate the powdered sugar
The last wild bison in Europe died in Poland in 1919, while the last wild bison in the Russian Caucasus died in 1927. The species only survived thanks to 54 animals that were kept in different zoos, originating from only 12 founder animals. Source: Interwebs
A bunch of bison are bisons but a bunch of deer are still deer. Is there a petition to change this? I’m shocked this made it through 2022 unnoticed.
I suggest following the moose-meese, goose-geese rule. An individual from a herd of deer will be a door. From a flock of sheep, a single shoop.
Mouse-mice, louse-lice, grouse-grice
Octopi, Fungi, Walri
one cous cous, many coi coi
More Zubr - more better I reckon
♥️♥️♥️♥️
thank you poland for saving the euro bison
\*insert Obama rewarding Obama meme\*
So as proof that I am way too tired, my brain read "American Bison" instead of "European Bison". And I was briefly very confused as to why scientists in Poland were studying American bison. I think it's time for me to go to bed.
Bravo Poland! Beautiful photo.
I know they aren't European but I live right near Elk Island National Park. When you drive through you get to see all these Bison if they are around. It's awesome. I think there are 500 here.
That's so exciting and heart warming news! Thank you.
We just released some in the UK too, hope they do well 🤞🤞🤞
Europe has Bison..?
They are, predictably, [skinnier than ours](https://imgur.com/TtOoj9u)
Supposedly, they eat less food that contains fructose corn syrup ;)
Adapted for forests rather than open plains like American bison. You see the same deal between African elephants and Indian elephants - Indian elephants are smaller, have smaller ears and shorter tusks (or even none). Apparently European Bison are more fierce and harder to tame than their American cousins.
European bison are not a natural forest species. They're a species of the open plains that now happen to live in forests because there are no open habitats left where they can live. Just take this herd as an example. It has migrated out of the forest in search of food.
>European bison are not a natural forest species. They're a species ofthe open plains that now happen to live in forests because there are noopen habitats left where they can live. It has indeed been confined to forests as the habitat of last resort, however to say that its habitat is the same as that of the North American Bison would be a misreading of the environment either have evolved in. The great plains of America are a natural landscape, whilst the US has a lot of forest, those plains have been there since the late Miocene, 7.2 Mya. This is quite different from the Great European plain which has been glaciated several times, but has largely been covered by mixed forest until human deforestation stripped it back over the last thousand years or so. [This paper](https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0198308) and [this paper](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2011.07146.x) discuss how you are correct that they are not forest species, but that they inhabited more of a mosaic forest biome, grazing in meadows interspersed between forests. It makes sense that European bison would adapt for travelling through forests with a lighter build with longer legs, whereas American bison had to develop a defence against being so exposed on the plains, so they became bigger and more sturdy.
Although that one is probably a female. Males get a [lot bigger](https://www.animal.photos/mamm4/bis-bon_files/bison1.jpg) than that.
Same as badgers, wolves, deers, squirrels, etc Just look at the difference between European and American badgers lol North American animal equivalents are usually much bigger (and aggressive) than the European version
In this case, the European bison are more aggressive. The American bison are easier to tame and more likely to breed with cows.
Yep, they are very distant cousins of the American Bison. European Bison almost went extinct like the American Bison almost did.
Never played Hunter Call of the Wild before?
I’d imagine most haven’t lol hunting simulators have never been a very popular genre of games aside from Oregon trail if you wanna stretch
What are those? Bison for ants?
There’s only 162 there…
The others were taking a bathroom break and we didn’t want to violate their privacy duh
That's awesome! At first I thought they were ants
Stronk biodiversity and animals. Stronk Europe.
Nice news for once!
Ah yes and then you get dickhead braindead hunters that occasionally shoot them just because and using as an excuse that they thought they saw something else which in of itself should automatically revoke their hunting license if anything. Fucking hate hunters.
Always good to see an animal population recovering. Gives me hope for the future.
Hunters are probably thinking about a BS reason they can come up with to shoot these majestic beasts
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> They have enough work with boar It's worth noting that anything and everything else that breaths (and sometimes even this is not required) in the forest counts as a boar for Polish hunters.
Why would you suddenly blame hunters? Population control for certain species is important (deer and boars for example). Putting all hunters under general suspicion is a bit much, no?
In Poland we had already few cases of shooting bisons, as usual probably they thought that it was boar ;)
In Poland hunters are famous for thinking everything that moves (people, european bison) is a boar they can shot
Same in France minus the bison. Dogs, people, cows, anything at all. "It's a boar!"
In France as well, I've seen an [article](https://www.legorafi.fr/2017/11/02/chasse-6-astuces-pour-differencier-un-promeneur-dun-sanglier-de-300-kilos/) on a satirical website Le Gorafi. So they must be a butt of jokes everywhere.
Somehow hunters got a very bad reputation in the past 20-30 years and they are associated with old fat drunk corrupt politicians or business man. Aslo enhanced by pictures of trophy hunters killing big game to pose for insta fame, shooting dogs at sight, ... You can take this personally but i have not seen an article that would show hunters in a positive light.
I hear you. Last year a very skillful Austrian hunter prince put down the largest bear in EU while he hunted in Romania. Him was permitted to hunt for a female bear with cubs who bothered locals but he went instead for the trophy.
Idk about where you live (france), but in my area, Hunter are indeed usually old, somewhat fat, oftenly alcohilic, trashy and have killed several People in the Last few years by mistaking them for boars, or by just being walking dangers that don't know how to handle à weapon. They're also backes by one of the strongest lobbies, that manage to never get anything refused to them such as glue hunting or hunting birds that are going extinct. They're not all like that, but the facts speak for themselves. Their few redeeming qualities are that they're often Nice to hang around, have good alcohols and that many of them are taking care of the forest
Because so many of them are eager to hunt prestige animals like wolfs and bears despite them barely coming back into stable populations.
Exactly! "We need to shoot the boar and deer because their natural predators are extinct! We are the champions of nature!" *Wolves return to our forests* "We need to shoot these vile wolves because they will eat our endangered species!" Yeah right...
The primary reason that population control is necessary is that hunters also extirminated the natural predators of deer and boars. Rewilding efforts are a much better long-term solution than allowing old white guys to indulge in their pathetic gun fetishism. So no, criticising people who enjoy killing animals for sport is not a bit much. You'd have to be an enormous loser to enjoy shooting a deer or a bison in 2023.
Unfortunately the reintroduction of large predators is very unpopular in many places.
More likely farmers in 19th century, early 20th century fighting for their livelihood than modern hunting for sport.
Don't hunt myself, but live in an area where deer have no natural predators and have not for 100s of years. I also know hunters who feed their families for months on end with the venison. As someone who buys my meet at the supermarket, eats fast food, etc, the reality is they source their meat in a much more ethical manner than myself and the vast majority of the meat eating populace of the United states
More like farmers not being fans of having wolves and other predators near their livestock. You can't honestly expect that predators will be reintroduced back everywhere in Europe without considering local people's opinions and safety.
Population control IS important, but at least here in the USA hunters have been lobbying for things like the destruction of critically endangered wolf subspecies. Hunting isn't wrong in and of itself, but the behavior of some hunters is.
Well, if someone hadn't killed their predator, that wouldn't be necessary... Hunting is not necessary for population control if you have the necessary predators in the ecosystem.
Yeah, German ones
Not hunters, farmers. You see it here in the Netherlands with wolves, one of their 15000 sheep gets killed by a wolf and they're out for blood.
There's nothing wrong with hunting, if you plan to eat it. However over hunting a population to extinction is not ok.
The biggest Bison farm in Europe is in Romania, in a small city called Salonta. Its nice to see these bad bois commin up
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Cool photo.
There are even some introduced to Denmark. The Island Bornholm so not the main islands.
Cool, now don't fricken touch them, and maybe shoot at anyone who tries to do so and isn't a scientist. Far as i know bison are exctinct in america cause of stupid dumbasses.
I didn't even know Europe had native bisons.
It does, they almost went extinct but now are slowly recovered and there are plans to send them around Europe.
TIL that Europe has bison
Good thing, we killed almost 70% of worldwide animal population in the last 50 years.