The following is my translation of an article called: Der Wisent in Kaukasus by Fr. R. The author is presumably Friedrich Regensberg. It appeared in a German popular science magazine, Kosmos Handweiser für Naturfreunde 1910, Heft 10, Seiten 383-385. The printed article is enlivened with several photos, but his version isn't. I'm not aware of any previous translation.
Trevor Dykes.

The bison of the Caucasus by Fr. R.
Of all the bovines, or horn-carriers, the bison common to Europe and America is the largest. The European bison (Bison or Bonasus europaeus) is often incorrectly held to be the same as another long extinct, wild European ox, the aurochs (Bos primigenius, the Ur of the Niebelungenliedes), which used to be very widespread across Middle and Southeast Europe; its bones are found alongside of the mammoth, the cave bears, and that same Ur is common in the Diluvian deposits into Italy and France, and is killed by Siegfried in the Nieblungenlied:
... einen Wisent und einen Elch,
Starker Ure viere und einen grimmen Schelch.

The American bison (B. americanus locally called 'buffalo'), at the time of the discovery of the New World, was more common than any other quadruped in the northern hemisphere, but only 1,000 animals survive and most live in captivity in public or private parks. The rest fell victim to the killing mania and greed of 'civilized people'.

Bison are still found living in complete freedom in two places, but they are carefully protected. On the Bialowieza Heath (Bjeloweshskaja Buschtscha in Russian), there is a giant, virgin forest amounting to 1,276 km² in the Russian Government Territory of Grodno, and a recent survey provided a figure of 700 bison, and the forest had already been declared untouchable in 1803 for their protection.

The bison has found a second place of sanctuary in Europe: in the Caucasus on the northern slopes of the mountains, where it has found an area of 500,000 hectares. Grand Duke Sergius Michailowitsch possesses extensive "hunting grounds" there for the hunting purposes of only himself and his guests, and in the local forests, which are even more virgin and extensive than those already mentioned, the Caucasian bison enjoys a free existence protected from all harassments. These rare horn-bearers have found a refuge there following the destruction of the great forests of Central Russia; they have fled there from the encroachments of the human population, whose proximity they cannot bear.

According to an interesting report by the former Russian Agricultural Minister, A. Yermoloss (in the Paris journal La Nature, which we thank for the accompanying pictures, Illustrations 1-3). who was able to use information obtained from the Grand Duke's senior head gamekeeper Ed. Hutner, the race of the Caucas bison is, from the zoological perspective, identical with the bison of the Bialowieza Heath, although one lives in the northwest and the other on the southern border of European
Russia. Very worthy of attention is the remarkable result of adaptation shown by this bison which, originally, lived only on plains and shadowy thickets along rivers, yet which now has the habits of a complete mountain animal in the Caucasus.

In previous times the animals were obviously larger; now, there are none above 1.8m high, 3.5m long and with weights of over 800kg. The black-brown hair, lighter in the summer, is some 20cm long for bulls and like felt towards the front. The horns are relatively small and curve up in the manner of a semi-circular form. Although the Caucasian bison, as has already been stated before, belongs to the same race as its cousins in the Government Territory of Grodno, it is nevertheless distinguished by its smaller size and the build of some parts of the body, which some Russian researchers have thought significant enough to merit a separate species (Bos onasus caucasicus). The Caucasian is also much shyer, and the only specimen which has so far been captured was a young, newly-born calf.

In the above mentioned region of the northern side of the Caucasus, according to Yermoloss, the bison prefers the area near to the source and flood plains of the Bielaja and the Malaja Laba (the Major and Minor Laba), and their tributaries at the feet of the mountains Schugus and Abagua. North from there spread the common forests belonging to the Kubanischen Cossacks. Animals that stray beyond the border will fall victim to poachers, and this is despite the strong punishments that are threatened. The bison spend the nights of the summertime in the high alpine meadows, and descend down during the day to the deep valleys, which are transversed by water courses and wild streams. Herds of 4 to 15 individuals can be seen there, especially around the sulphur springs where the land is very rich, and they seem particularly attracted by the mineral waters. In such valleys, the animals find not only protection from the rays of the Sun, but they also find rich pastures; especially loved by the bovines are areas with some trees, such as the Mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia) and elm (Ulmus campestris), and with young shoots of ferns. Their main food is composed of the plentiful and lush grasses from the upper meadows, to which they ascend again at the fall of night. Hay, which one provides for the Bialowieza bison in the winter, is not consumed, even in the seasons when plagued by hunger*, but they are very eager for blocks of rock salt left out for them at various places.

(* Bison held in an Upper Silesian area belonging to Duke Pletz do take hay when offered.)

The proximity of the Black Sea lends the northwestern parts of the Caucasus a very damp climate, and the strong rains of spring, summer and autumn encourage the rich growth of grasses, and these are what the bison live from during the hot seasons of the year. It becomes powerful, and stores substantial quantities of fat in its body, and these allow it to more or less survive through the months of very stark winter in these high regions. Its thick fur provides protection against the cold; but snow fields can often prove threatening. They frequently reach heights of some metres, and the heavy animals can sink in with their legs and meet a premature end, should they not be able to work their way out. The normal lifespan is said to be something like thirty years.

Fights between bulls, which are frequent in the Bialowieza Forest, have never been observed in the Caucasus. When calving (mostly in March), the pregnant cows distance themselves from the herd, and find a lonely spot in which to hide themselves in the alpine area. One has never perceived that a cow has given birth to more than a single calf. After 6 or 7 days the calf is already strong enough to be able to follow the mother. Should she happen across a person, then she will not defend her young, but rather she flees and leaves it to its fate, if one shows the intention of approaching. Brehm reports that the mother cow will kill her calf should she smell that it has been touched by a human hand. "I do not know", writs Yermoloss, "whether the same has been observed in the Caucasus, but everything speaks for the bison regarding humans as its most terrible enemy, proximity is avoided and incursions into the glacial area result in flight. It also has wild animals of various species to fear, as the forests of the Caucasus are rich with them; the panther, which is becoming ever rarer, the lynx, the wolf and the bear: the latter has a preference for attacking young calves, and their remains are often found in its stomach. Some protection of game has been systematically enforced on the hunting ground of Grand Duke Sergius, the numbers of predators have significantly fallen while the populations of deer, argali (wild sheep), goats and wild boars have commensurately increased." This also applies for the bison, the number of which, according to Hutner's information, was estimated to be about 400 20 years ago, while presently there are at least 600. Since the Grand Duke became the master of hunting, the periodic hunts have only shot 12 individuals, all for purely scientific purposes (for various museums), and these were old animals of no further use for the reproduction of the race.

One would presently put the combined number of bison in the Bialowieza Forest and Caucasus at about 1,300. Despite the resultant and continuing incest brought about by this low number, no signs of a degradation in the race have been perceived. However, as many cows remain infertile, the bison reproduce only slowly. It can be sensibly assumed, that crosses of Caucasian bison and domestic cattle would have productive results, as such efforts have already been blessed on a number of occasions at Bialowieza Heath. In the United States, crosses of American bison and domestic cattle (ones such as the Galloway breed) have even obtained spectacular success.

Additional notes:
Bialowieza National Park is no longer in Russia. At some stage it emigrated and settled in Poland and Belarus. Bison still play there. According to Peter Maas' webpage (and others), and despite the relative optimism as to its future prospects, the Caucasian bison no longer moos in its pure form, having been silenced by a gang of hooligans including poaching and epidemics. However, some hybrids are still flying the flag, albeit at lower than half-mast.
Link
Peter Maas, Recently extinct animals, Bison bonasus caucasicus
http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/speciesinfo/caucasianbison.htm

An index of more of my translations of old Kosmos articles can be found at:

Kosmos Translations Archive

A number of Mesozoic (and post-Mesozoic) location summaries can be found at Localities.