Aurochs, the primitive prehistoric cattle of Europe, had lived in Poland?

Who among us hasn't.


Very interesting animals, again, eaten during the war. Probably quite tasty. Same group. Hair splitting to say otherwise, and the National Park authority in their display at Roztocze are happy to conflate them - it's very worth having a look, there's a good display and visitor centre.

Hair splitting, heh ;) the tarpan or the konik, the dodo or the duck ;)
@Roger5
Actually it's great they want to reproduce there ;) I remember seeing a foal there and a young wolf.

They have (or had) lynx, too. Both of them 'rescued' as cubs by ignorant tourists while their mother was hunting.

I visited the reserve last year and took a photo of the lynxes or the wildcats (not sure now). The sun was shining so it was only later that I realised one of them was licking its crotch as I was taking the pic ;) How surpising a wild animal wasn't posing for the photo ;)

They do have some nice animals there: bisons, deer, wild boars, elks etc.
When you're in Białowieża, it's also possible to get a guided tour to the parts of forest not normally available to the tourists. But it all depends on the weather. If it's raining, they don't take tourists to those parts of the forest.

Dodos were appaprently quite different to ducks. And tasted much worse too ;-)


I saw wildcats there - lovely animals.


This is worth doing.

I've never heard of tours not happening in the Strict Reserve because of rain. I haven't been in that part for many years, but if I remember right, it cost about 200PLN for a group of five. One time we were lucky to have a retired director of the National Park as our guide. I asked him about lynx and he said that he'd been in the forest every day for the last fifty years and had seen them twice in the wild.

100PLN/hr (three-hour tour) plus NP entrance fee of 8-25PLN.

@Roger5
Actually that's what happened to us. We weren't allowed to go because it MIGHT rain. It wasn't even raining. The weather did suck and short rain caught us several times but we were disappointed that we didn't have a chance to go to the strict reserve. We spent only three days in Białowieża.

The trip cost 144 zł per group. The group could consist of up to 12 people. The price would depend on the number of people in the group.

That's weird. It's been raining off and on for the last two weeks here (I live quite near the forest). Can they afford to cancel trips like that? Perhaps the company you booked with were hydrophobic, or perhaps it just wasn't worth it. The price you quote seems ludicrously low.

We didn't book it. We were just staying in Białowieża and looked for things we could do. The tourist information centre had the trips in their offer and it was the man there that told us we couldn't go.

Most of the locals didn't really seem to care about tourists. Just like the lady in Skansen Ziemi Ruskiej. We bought the tickets and she just let us wander around those old huts. It was great but I'm surpised she didn't worry we might damage something.

I kind of like such an attitude, though.

Merged:

The Wisent / Bison in Poland are all German stock

Out of interest i did read about the Wisent and it has an interesting history.

One user here insulted Germany, because a Wisent was shot here as it endangered people running close to the Autobahn.

Now to the facts...in the last 400 years the Wisent became extinct in the wild. It was only kept as pet from german lords. After WW I the population collapsed completly.

It was german zoologist Dr. Erna Mohr who started a rescue program in zoological gardens and a breeding program.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erna_Mohr

Her efforts were sucessful and animals transported to Poland.

Dr. Mohr chose the national park białowieża as best habitat for the Wisent.

So much for the polish national animal...even the Wisent coems from Germany. The original polish Wisent stock was lost before WW I. All animal in Poland come from german Zoo animals.

Now that is interesting info....

Ho-ho-ho!

@Ironside

The Wisent was not eaten. Who told you that crap? Its a CITES I species and German law is quite stringent with that. You know laws?

Look, maybe in Poland cows are allowed to smash into cars and kill people. In Germany thats not allowed. If something happened, the ones responsible would go to jail. Is your country a lawless s,or what?

As for being an Idiot when i want german interests be accomplished. Yes, im an idiot then. Too bad i stand for my country and not fo others.

Maybe the bison wanted to follow a fast lane for his journey back to Poland, thus he decided to choose the Autobahn.


That's what the Polish media reported. The media said people could even watch from across the river Oder Germans of Lebus actually eating the bison.


Two contradictory versions: which one of them is true?

You do know what CITES is, right?

The very idea that a shot wild animal would be served as BBQ at the nearby village is so bizarre, that its comedy.

Sorrry guys,I just can't get excited about a bison getting shot when human beings are suffering....
Get real guys.....get some priorities.....FFS!

That bison missed the memo that Poland was free and tried to run to freedom. Just as I did in 1966.