| Steppe Bison Temporal range: Irvingtonian to Late Pleistocene 1.8–0.011 Ma |
|
|---|---|
| Bison priscus skeleton | |
| 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 Bison[1] or steppe wisent (Bison priscus) was a bison found on steppes throughout Europe,[2] Central Asia,[3] Beringia, and North America [4] 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.[5]
The steppe wisent was over two metres tall and resembled the modern bison species. The tips of the horns were a meter apart, the horns themselves being over half a meter long.
Steppe wisent occasionally appear in cave art, notably in the Cave of Altamira, and have been found in mummified form.[6][7]