Steppe Wisent

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iSteppe Wisent
Conservation status
Extinct (6000 BCE)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Bovinae
Genus: Bison
Species: B. priscus
Binomial name
Bison priscus
Bojanus, 1827

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

The Steppe Wisent became extinct in the Late Pleistocene, as it was replaced in Europe by the Wisent and in America by the Bison.

Steppe Wisent were over two metres high and probably resembled the Bison. 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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