Current status
European bison are kept in enclosed breeding centres (EBC), zoological gardens, and specially reserves for semi-free and free living herds.
Comparing the number of wisents representing two genetic lines of E. bison, the total number of wisent of Lowland line (2 611) is larger than the total number of wisent of Lowland-Caucasian line (2 376).
The majority of the free population of the lowland line live in Bialowieza Forest.
The majority of the free population of the Lowland-Caucasian line live in the area of the Carpathian Mountains.
Wisents representing the Lowland-Caucasian line are marked with green, wisents representing the Lowland line are marked with red.
World population size
Breeding centers are sorted by country and listed in alphabetical order. As red color is common for Lowland line and green - for Lowland-Caucasian line, breeding centers and free living herds are marked as follows:
Source: information obtained by Professor W. Olech from breeders directly (2014)