Animals listed in the Red Book. Zubr: The Red Book of Russia

Various reasons have caused the decrease and even the disappearance of certain species of animals and plants. To stop this process, mankind came up with the Red Book. This is a kind of list of endangered birds, animals, insects, etc. Take, for example, an animal such as a bison. The Red Book of Russia classifies it as "endangered species".

History of the Red Book

In 1948, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, abbreviated to the IUCN, led the conservation of nature of various organizations operating in most countries of the world. Soon, the Commission for the Survival of Species was established. The purpose of this commission was to create a world list of animals that are threatened with extinction.

Work was to be great. It was necessary not only to develop general principles for the protection of rare animals, but also to identify endangered species, make up their classification and do many other things. When the work was done, the book decided to call red because this color signals a danger.

The Red Book was first published in 1963 and included a description of 312 species and subspecies of birds and 211 species and subspecies of mammals. Each subsequent edition of her expanded the list of endangered birds and animals. In this list there is a bison. The IUCN Red Book, however, classifies it as vulnerable, not endangered.

The Red Book of Russia

The Red Book of the Russian Federation was published in 2001. Although the Red Book of the RSFSR was taken as a basis , it was a new, thoroughly revised and enlarged edition. It included amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals - 231 taxons. This is 73 percent more than in the previous book. The list of invertebrate animals, fish and fish-like species has grown significantly. Some species after careful processing, on the contrary, were excluded from the list.

However, such an animal as the European bison, the Red Book of the Russian Federation contains on its list. And the bison is classified as "endangered".

The largest mammal in Europe

Heavier and larger than a land mammal in Europe does not exist. The Bison is very close to its American relative - bison.

By weight, a bison can reach 1 ton, along the length of the body - 330 cm, in height - two meters. Its wool has a dark brown color.

From the bison it is distinguished by a higher hump, longer horns and tail.

The life span of a bison is 23-25 years. The maximum of its size, it reaches as early as 5-6 years of age.

Bisons prefer to live in herds. But, that is characteristic, the female is led by the female in the herd. And it consists mainly of young calves and females. Adult males prefer solitude. The herd is visited only for mating.

By the way, the female of a bison is bearing its cub for 9 months. Only, unlike a human baby, a dentist gets up on his feet within an hour and is ready to run after his mother. And in twenty days he can eat fresh grass by himself. Although the baby does not stop feeding the baby with milk, the milk does not stop within five months.

There are two subspecies of this large animal - the Belovezhsky and the Caucasian bison. The IUCN Red Data Book refers to the disappeared species.

Bison residence area

In the Middle Ages this animal inhabited a large territory - from Western Siberia to the Iberian Peninsula. However, hunting and poaching played a role in the sharp decrease in their numbers. The First World War completed this dirty business.

There are reports that the last living bison was destroyed in Belovezhskaya Pushcha in 1921, and in the Caucasus in 1926. In zoos and in private possessions, by that time, 66 bison were preserved.

The International Society for the Preservation of Bison, established in 1923, was called upon to work on restoring the number of rare animals such as the bison. The Red Book was not yet invented. We can say that the world community coped with such a task. Today, bison are even evicted from zoos in nature and live in Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Moldova, Spain, Ukraine, Germany and Slovakia.

How the bison population was restored

Work to restore the number of bison was started before the Second World War, mainly in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, in Poland, and in zoological parks in Europe. It is clear that the war destroyed the results of this work.

The continuation followed after its termination. Rescue of the bison was again occupied in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha, but already in the territory of the Soviet Union. This work was crowned with success, and already in 1961 bison began to settle into natural habitats.

By the way, if the Belovezhskaya Bison preserved enough for their further reproduction, the Caucasian survived in captivity only in a single copy. Therefore, we had to cultivate hybrid animals.

Caucasian bison

In another way, he was called Dombai and referred to mountain-forest animals. This subspecies of the European bison lived in the forests of the Main Caucasian Range. He was slightly smaller than his European brother and darker in color. In addition, his hair was curly, and the horns bent more strongly.

According to the life expectancy of the Caucasian bison a little inferior to his fellow Belovezhskaya. A little more than 20 years could have lived the most enduring among them.

However, people tirelessly exterminated this animal. As a result, by the middle of the 19th century Dombayev was left with no more than 2000 individuals, and after World War I - 500 pieces.

Established the fact of poaching, which finally exterminated Dombaev. It happened in 1927 on Mount Alous. It was then that the bison of the Caucasus disappeared from the face of the earth. The IUCN Red List places it in the category of "extinct species".

Revival of the Bison in the Caucasus

Of course, this was no longer a dombay. However, the bison in the Caucasus appeared again.

In the summer of 1940 a male and several female bison were brought to the Caucasian Reserve . They were crossed with Belovezhskaya-Caucasian bison. The latter are still preserved in some zoos in the world.

The work of scientists was crowned with success. Now the Caucasian bison almost does not differ from the aborigine of these places of Dombai. However, in free nature, bison do not live. They live only in the reserves: the Caucasus and Teberdinsky, as well as in the Zeya Wildlife Sanctuary in North Ossetia.

Regional Red Books

Many regions of the Russian Federation publish their own regional Red Books. This was done to give greater importance to the protection of rare species of animals, birds and plants in the regions. Of course, not all of these species are significant on a global scale. But the local flora and fauna are no less important for the population living there than the individual endangered species on a world scale.

However, some species of animals from regional Red Books are of global importance. For example, bison. The Red Book of the Krasnodar Territory includes this animal. Because the habitat of bison in Russia extends to the basins of the Belaya and Malaya Laba rivers, some of which are located in the Krasnodar Territory. And now there are very few of them there. But in the middle of the 19th century, the bison of the Kuban was not uncommon. The Red Book now warns of a careful attitude to these animals.

In addition, in Russia the school educational program aims not only to instil in children love for their native land, but also to cultivate a caring attitude towards representatives of the flora and fauna. One of the most colorful among them is the bison. The red book for children in pictures demonstrates it in all its glory. This is a good example of the fact that beautiful animals can disappear from the face of the earth without protection.

Bison nurseries in Russia

The first nursery in Russia was established in 1948 in the Moscow region, in Serpukhov district, within the boundaries of the biosphere reserve there. Since 1959, there is a nursery in the Spassky District of the Ryazan Region. Since 1989, a free population of bison is in the Vladimir region. A reserve of "Kaluga Zaseki" (the boundaries of the Kaluga, Orel and Tula regions) inhabits several groups of bison in the number of 120 individuals.

In 1996, bison was brought to the national park "Orel Polesye", located in the north-west of the Orel region. Now their population has increased to 208 individuals.

However, most of the bison reside in their homeland - in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, which, as is known, is located on the territory of two states: Belarus and Poland. In the National Park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" of the Republic of Belarus, the number of bison is 360 individuals, and in Poland - about 400. Together they form the largest population of this rare species in the world. By the way, the symbol of Belarus is the bison. The IUCN Red List, recall, refers this animal to the vulnerable category.