Bison priscus

Molar de la mandíbula superior de bisonte estepario.

The steppe bison, also called arctic or longhorn bison, It was a species of bison that inhabited much of Europe,Central Asia, Russia, Manchuria and North America during the Pleistocene.

These were animals similar to the current European bison, but much more robust and larger, with longer horns and adapted to life in open spaces such as the steppes and the limits of the tundra. Its relationships with the current bison species are not entirely clear, although it tends to be assumed that the species gave rise to the current European bison at the beginning of the Holocene from smaller forms such as Bison priscus mediator, which adapted to the new warm and forested environment that was beginning to replace the glacial tundra-steppe in Europe. The giant subspecies of Asia and North America, such as Bison priscus gigas, disappeared without offspring or gave rise to the current American bison (Bison bison).

​Primitive man was a habitual hunter of this species. Steppe bison are frequently represented in cave paintings in France (Lascaux) and Spain (Altamira).