Zubr

Herberstein and Martin Cronner assert that the name of Bison is always bestowed on the animal called Zubr or Zumbr by the Poles that the name of Aurochs or Urus is improperly bestowed upon it by the Germans; that these last mentioned names apply solely to the urus or Thur of the Polish nation and they add, that the thur was at that period found only in Massovia, near Warsaw; and they even name the particular villages the inhabitants of which were charged with its conservation. During their days, the thur or wild bull appears to have been kept as a curiosity, as the zubr or modern aurochs is at this day, Anthony Schneebergen designates by the name of Thur a species of wild bull, differing from the domestic breed in few particulars, except its greater size, the uniformly black colour of the males, and the beauty of its coat; its horns were always directed forwards. This last character excludes the identity of the thur and buffalo presumed by Pallas. The forward direction of the horns, the greater size, the similarity of form to that of the domestic bull, all established and described by observers who were at the same time sufficiently familiar with the zubr or modern aurochs, prove it to have been a diiferent animal from that last named.

It is not improbable that the Bison mentioned by Seneca and Pliny was the Bonasus of Aristotle, and the Zubr and Auerochs of the moderns, while the Urus of these writers seems to be now extinct as a wild animal, but was perhaps the original of our present domestic cattle.* * Bojanus, however, is of a different opinion.

1838-05, W. Weissenborn, "On the Influence of Man in modifying the Zoological Featurs of the Globe; with Statistical Accounts respecting a few of the more important Species", The Magazine of Natural History (page 239) The Zubr,* (Pr. Zhubr), Bos urus. * I give the preference to this name of the animal, because it is so called in the country where it now exists, and because many of its other synonyms are subject to controversy. (page 251-252) In addition to what Bojanus alleges, as being favorable to the opinion that the turs of Masovia were a few individuals of the original wild ox, (Bos taurus), which had escaped death or domestication, such as, he says, are still found in a few parks of Scotland and England; or what Jarocki states to prove that the tur was the same animal as the zubr which he thinks was called tur in Muscovia and Samogitia, and zubr in Lithuania, I shall say, in corroboration of the latter opinion, that nearly all that Herberstein knew about the tur from hearsay, is fabulous; (for instance, that it breeds with tame cows, but that the progeny does not come to perfection, "vituli qui nascuntur non sunt vitales;" that the turs which have mixed with tame cows, are expelled from their herd, as infamous, &c.) the report which he makes respecting the carcass of a tur, given to him by King Sigismundus Augustus, bears strong evidence of his having received a zubr, which the men who delivered it called tur, whereas he himself allows that he was absent at the time the present was received.

As an appendix to our history of the bison, it will not be out of place, if we here proceed to give a short sketch of the history of its Old World relative, the little known and almost extinct aurochs or zubr, our information respecting which is derived from a valuable paper by Dr. Weissenborn of Weimar, published in the 'Magazine of Natural History for May and June 1838.'

The Zubr, or European Bison.*—(Bison zubris.) The bonasos, or monapos, described by Aristotle as inhabiting Pæonia (the modern province of Bulgaria, in Turkey), and the bison, which Pausanias and Oppian describe as existing in the same locality, appear to be the present species, although no longer found there; and it is, no doubt, the animal called zimbr in Moldavia, about the time of Demetrius Cantemir. It has also been called wisen, wisant, visant, ure, our, auer, auerocks, urochs, and tur; evidently originating in the more classic terms bison, urus, and taurus. There is a third species of bison (Bison Caucasica), inhabiting Mount Caucasus, and probably some districts of India and other parts of Asia.

THE European bison, wisent or zubr (Bison bonasus) seems to be coming back into circulation again, at least among menagerie keepers. The London Zoo has a pair of them...

Near it is Bialowieza, the remainder of the European primeval forest. Bialowieza is home to the zubr, or Polish bison, which is a cousin of the American buffalo. In addition to the zubr, the Polish forests are also home to the wild boar, eagles, falcons, and many other animals.

2002-02-10, Alex, "Bison hair found in Greenland", sci.archeology, https://groups.google.com/d/msg/sci.archaeology/rIGlCbipg3Y/DGHi3djUVnEJ A notriceable population of "zubr" (european bison) still exists in Poland and Belorus.