Napoleon, Białowieża Forest and the Last Bison from Transylvania

Although archaeological data evidences that in the early Middle Ages European bison roamed large areas of Central and Eastern Europe, already in the sixteenth century the range of this species has shrunk to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Prussia, Moldavia and the Caucasus. In the course of next centuries, consecutive points were erased from the map of the distribu­ tion of free-living bison herds. In the end of the 18th century, only one place remained on this map: Bialowieza Forest. At that time, even the most promi­ nent naturalists did not believe in the existence of bison populations in Caucasus or in today’s Romania1. No wonder that in the 19th century, this species enjoyed a great interest of naturalists and was a subject of many publications, sometimes even the main motivation for scientific excursions to Bialowieza Forest, since 1795 part of the Russian Empire. Most of the mu­ seums and natural collections considered owning a bison exhibit, be it a skeleton, fur or other anatomical part, a point of honour.