Steppe Bison

The steppe bison or steppe wisent (Bison priscus) is an extinct species of bison.
It was once found on the mammoth steppe where its range included Europe, Central Asia, Northern to Northeastern Asia, Beringia, and North America, from northwest Canada to Mexico during the Quaternary.
Resembling the modern bison species especially American wood bison (Bison bison athabascae), the steppe bison was over 2 m tall at the wither, reaching 900 kg (2,000 lb) in weight.
Three chronological subspecies, Bison priscus priscus, Bison priscus mediator, and Bison priscus gigas, have been suggested.
It is believed to have evolved from Bison paleosinensis in South Asia, which means the species appeared at roughly the same time and region as the aurochs (Bos primigenius).
The steppe bison was eventually contemporaneous with the Pleistocene woodland bison (B. schoetensacki) and the European bison (Bison bonasus) in Europe, Leptobison in Japan, and the long-horned bison (Bison latifrons) in North America.
The steppe bison became extinct in the early Holocene, as it was replaced in Europe by the modern bison B. bonasus, which is likely a hybrid between B. priscus and the Bos primigenius.
In America it was replaced by a sequence of several species (such as Bison antiquus and Bison occidentalis) culminating in the modern American bison (Bison bison).
The tips of the horns were a meter apart, the horns themselves being over half a meter long.
European cave paintings appear to depict both B. bonasus and B. priscus.
Steppe bison appear in cave art, notably in the Cave of Altamira and Lascaux, and the carving Bison Licking Insect Bite, and have been found in naturally ice-preserved form.
Blue Babe is the 36,000-year-old mummy of a male steppe bison which was discovered north of Fairbanks, Alaska, in July 1979.
Blue Babe's bluish cast was caused by a coating of vivianite, a blue iron phosphate covering much of the specimen.
In 2011, a 9,300-year-old mummy was found at Yukagir in Siberia.
The steppe bison became extinct at the end of the last Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago.

Music: Ether (Silent Partner)
Youtube Music Library

Видео Steppe Bison канала Extinction Blog