The European Bison was once found throughout temperate Europe, where it lived in mixed woodlands and clearings and ate grass, twigs, fruit and bark. However it retreated into the deep forests to avoid man and his expanding cultivated areas. Its range and numbers were steadily reduced until it was only found in the Bialowiza forest, a marshy forest in eastern Poland. The First World War sounded the death knell of the Bison in the wild, and it finally became extinct in 1921. Luckily some animals were kept in zoos and in private collections. This meant they could be re-introduced. Now there are several thousand back in the Polish forest.
European bison live in small groups, but the adult males live in a mostly solitary life. Mating occurs in August and September. As for cattle the pregnancy lasts 9 months. A single calf is born which is weaned at 6 months and is independent at one year of age.