Bison schoetensacki

Bison schoetensacki, also known commonly as the Pleistocene woodland bison or the Pleistocene wood bison, was a species of bison that lived until Middle or Upper Pleistocene among western Europe to southern Siberia.[1]

Bison schoetensacki
Temporal range:
Fossil of Bison schoetensacki at the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Bovinae
Genus: Bison
Species:
†B. schoetensacki
Binomial name
†Bison schoetensacki
Freudenberg, 1910

Description

B. schoetensacki was generally similar to extant European bison in shape although there could have been morphological variations among European bisons during late Early Pleistocene and Early Holocene.[2]

In comparison to B. priscus, B. schoetensacki was either smaller or similar in size but with slenderer leg bones and metapodials, and had shorter and differently shaped horns.[3]

Diet

Despite its common name, B. schoetensacki was probably not a mix-feeder, like the extant wood bison. Instead, dental mesowear of the species shows similar pattern to that of extant European bison, a grazer.[1]

Paleobiology

Numbers of fossils have been obtained from Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain,[4] and mass excavations from the paleolithic site, dating back to around 700,000 years ago, in Isernia in Italy indicate B. schoetensacki was the most heavily targeted animal by human hunters,[5] meanwhile European bison likely didn't inhabit Italian and Iberian Peninsulas.[1]

Ranges of B. schoetensacki and steppe bison presumably overlapped for some extents.[1]

References
  1. Roman Uchytel. "Pleistocene woodland bison". Prehistoric-Fauna.com. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
  2. Leonardo Sorbelli, Marco Cherin, David M. Alba, Joan Madurell Malapeira, 2021, A review on Bison schoetensacki and its closest relatives through the early-Middle Pleistocene transition: Insights from the Vallparadís Section (NE Iberian Peninsula) and other European localities, edited by Danielle Schreve, Quaternary Science Reviews, Volume 261, DOI:106933, The Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition in Mediterranean Europe
  3. Marsolier-Kergoat, Marie Claude (2017). Evolutionary Biology: Self/Nonself Evolution, Species and Complex Traits Evolution, Methods and Concepts. Springer International Publishing. pp. 187–198. ISBN 9783319615691.
  4. Leonardo Sorbelli, Marco Cherin, David M. Alba, Joan Madurell Malapeira, 2019, The Epivillafranchian Bison schoetensacki sample from the Vallparadís Section, The Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition in Mediterranean Europe
  5. Thun Hohenstein, Ursula; Di Nucci, Annarosa; Moigne, Anne-Marie (January 2009). "Mode de vie à Isernia La Pineta (Molise, Italie). Stratégie d'exploitation du Bison schoetensacki par les groupes humains au Paléolithique inférieur". L'Anthropologie (in French). 113 (1): 96–110. doi:10.1016/j.anthro.2009.01.009.
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