Steppe Wisent

The Steppe Bison or steppe wisent (Bison priscus) was a bison found on steppes throughout Europe, Central Asia, Beringia and North America during the Quaternary. It is believed that it evolved somewhere in South Asia which would have it appearing at roughly the same time and region as the aurochs with which its descendants are sometimes confused.

The steppe wisent became extinct in the late Pleistocene, as it was replaced in Europe by the modern wisent species and in America by a sequence of species culminating in the American bison.

Steppe wisent was over two metres high and resembled the modern bison species. The tips of the horns were a metre apart, the horns themselves being over half a metre long.

Steppe wisent occasionally appear in cave art.

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Last updated on Sunday March 09, 2008 at 13:16:30 PDT (GMT -0700)
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