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A camera trap in a Polish forest has captured first-of-its-kind footage of a family of bison fighting off a pack of wolves.
On September 15 last yr, five wolves began hunting the animals – only to be driven off.
The recording shows the pack surrounding a calf, biting its neck and attempting to tug it away before two cows come to the rescue.
The wolves return and seize the calf a second time within the background of the video — nonetheless, this time the whole bison herd involves its defence.
The clip was recorded within the Białowieża Primeval Forest, the oldest and best-preserved temperate lowland forest in Europe, which hosts the world’s largest population of European bison.
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The forest covers 350,600 acres (141,900 hectares) on the border between Poland and Belarus. There are greater than 870 bison on the Polish side, while the Belarusian side has roughly 730 bison.
Also often known as ‘the king of the forest,’ the European bison is often considered a non-prey species, meaning it has no predators except humans. However the footage calls this into query.
‘To our knowledge, we present the primary video-recorded evidence of wolves attacking a European bison herd within the Białowieża Primaeval Forest,’ researchers wrote within the study, published within the journal Ecology and Evolution.
‘Although the video didn’t capture a direct kill, it suggests that other attacks on European bison could potentially achieve success.’
Historical records indicate that wolf attacks on European bison were over again common, with around eight kills recorded annually within the Białowieża Primeval Forest between 1840 and 1849.
The forest was a well-liked hunting ground for monarchs from the 14th century onwards, helping to clarify why such detailed records exist
European bison went extinct within the wild in 1919, but were reintroduced to the Białowieża Primeval Forest in 1952.
The primary confirmed bison kill since reintroduction dates to the mid-Nineteen Nineties, after which wolves appeared to shift their eating regimen towards roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), red deer (Cervus elaphus) and wild boar (Sus scrofa), likely because these species are easier prey than bison.
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