Dombay
The Caucasian wisent (Bison bonasus caucasicus ) or dombay (домбай ) was a subspecies of European bison that inhabited the Caucasus Mountains of Eastern Europe.
Little is known about morphological details of this subspecies including body size due to extinction before modern scientific approaches were made.
Comparared to the extant lowland wisent, the Caucasian bison was more adapted to mountainous habitat. Apparently, Caucasian bison was generally smaller (there had been arguments regarding the Caucasian bison to be smaller than the lowland bison, but most certainly less weighed), had shorter but higher hooves, had more developed shoulder girdles, had skulls similar in size to those found in Kuban region, had significantly thicker and larger horns, less shaggy coats, and curly hairs on head rear.
In the 17th century, the Caucasian bison still populated a large area of the Western Caucasus. After that human settlement in the mountains intensified and the range of the Caucasian wisent became reduced to about one tenth of its original range at the end of the 19th century. In the 1860s the population still numbered about 2,000, but was reduced to only 500-600 in 1917 and to only 50 in 1921. Local poaching continued; finally, in 1927, the last three Caucasian wisent were killed.
