I watched a huge European bison licking a treat of oats from a feeder with its purple tongue. It didn’t notice me and just kept lifting its enormous head and glancing towards me, estimating the danger level, figuring out if it was time to flee. So long as I stood still, the bison continued to enjoy its food, but if I moved, changed the lens on my camera or turned sharply, the creature would shudder and even stagger back. Despite being so close, the animals don’t let people pet them, a bison in general can’t be tamed. They are truly wild.
With little grains of oat stuck to their noses, the bison, despite their size, looked very cute. I was sitting inside a viewer’s feeder, which was built for observing the animals while feeding them, with Sergey Fedoseev, the manager of Kaluzhskiye Zaseki. Some bison were eating with a great appetite, about twenty more, of red and brown colour, were standing nearby chewing hay. “How huge they are,” I thought again. Bison are the largest ungulate species in Europe, their weight can reach one and a half tons. Even though it was proved by the scientists that the bison have shrunk during the last few centuries, their size is still impressive.
“There weren’t any bison in Kaluzhskiye zaseki 15 years ago, the financing was only enough for security," Sergey said, "we couldn’t afford to bring the bulls like the management of Orlovskoye Polesye National Park did. But one of the groups of these animals soon appeared at the territory of the nature reserve. And they stayed here. As the zoologists explained, those smart ungulates realised that the area is safe for their herd, they found the paths where boars and roes walked feely.
The mountainous area with large ravines, a broadleaf forest, maple trees, linden forests and oak groves, and small rivers turned out to be a perfect place to live. The first settlers of Kaluzhskiye Zaseki were 13 individuals — 8 bulls and 5 cows, which came from Orlovskoye Polesye. The initial expectations were quite pessimistic as the scientists thought that the herd would not be viable due to the large amount of males in it. They were wrong. However, the first bulls were aggressive and attacked people, there was such a horror. The cows were fine, they just protected their babies as always. But these were huge males. “There were no serious accidents though,” the manager recalled. A few more individuals were brought with the help of the WWF, World Wildlife Fund.
The bison were careful and did not leave the nature reserve area during the first 10 years. “The bison are cagy animals,” Sergey explained. I realised that later when we got to the northern parts of the nature reserve hoping to spot a wild family. However, we didn’t manage to find a herd of those enormous creatures. It still surprises me how a group of 61 individuals could hide in the forest so well.
Throughout one decade the population of bison in Kaluzhskiye Zaseki increased multiple times, the animals were separated into small groups. However, the forest bison from the southern part of the nature reserve haven’t yet travelled to the northern part, there is a 10 km distance between them. The bison easily get closer to each other, sometimes even exchanging partners in families — they migrate between groups. They have a matriarchy, so the female is the head of the family. Males return to the herd during the rut.
“They are so large, they must need a lot of food,” I stated the obvious.
“They have enough food, they feed on maple seedlings, spruce, take the bark from the lindens. The poor lindens are naked because of that,” Sergey laughed. Now the bison came to eat some oats and hay. It is difficult to deliver the hay, a tractor is needed. The grains are sometimes delivered by snowmobiles. After piling-up a sheaf of hay for the bison, two tractor drivers were seen inspecting a large wheel, which probably needed to be repaired. The hay is enough for a week. It is bought only from locals in order to avoid the intrusion of other plants.
“How much grain do you buy?” I wondered.
“As much as we can physically bring at one time, about 70 tons. The bison might eat more. We try to save it for the three winter months. In summer we also feed the animals a little bit, so that they remember there is food here,” Sergey answered.
While we were crawling along the forest roads, Sergey was telling us about his fights with poachers, quarrels with Ulyanovo villagers, inspections of videos from camera traps.
“Are bison killed for meat?” I clarified.
“Yes, people say that their meat isn’t any different from beef, I haven’t tried it. We have almost completely eliminated poaching. However, there were severe problems earlier. I am a local, from Ulyanovo, I have worked at the nature reserve since 1994 and know nearly every single poacher. There was a memorable case in 2016, when a calf and his mother were murdered. We took the poachers to court, and they were ordered to pay a substantial fine”.
“There was a classic resettlement in Kaluzhskiye Zaseki,” Sergey recalled. "The bulls were settling down in the territory, the rare male individuals impregnated the cows. A small group of males expanded the habitat, keeping their distance at the periphery. Obviously, they fought a lot. I often encounter single-horned or single-eyed individuals”.
“We do not interfere with the wildlife. Nevertheless, we execute medical observations. We are currently working on a federal scientific program, analysing the animals excrement for stress hormone levels. Our main goal though is to preserve the species,” Sergey continued.
There are 6 camera traps in the nature reserve that are constantly working, they are installed mainly near the feeders. Of course, the equipment gets stolen or stops working from time to time. However, the acquired material is enough to execute continuous observation of the bison. There are multiple different groups within the nature reserve at the moment, apart from the “singles” — bulls that walk around the forest on their own. Young males don’t usually come near the feeders. The largest group consists of 34 ungulates, and the scientists are struggling to count the calves in it. It is an extremely difficult job when the herd appears at the feeder.
We were taking a walk on an eco-path. Even though there are a lot of animals in the forest - boars, hares, moose, roes, wolves (over two hundred, by the way), badgers, wolverines, and lynx - we for sure didn’t see any. Only the tracks. Most of them were left by bison. They are fast runners and can speed up quickly. If the creatures are frightened, their hooves spread, and the tracks help to identify that the bison fled. It becomes obvious that poachers had been to the forest, or maybe they were scared away by wolves.
Sergey proudly showed us the forest and the oak grove where really old trees could be found, 200-400 years old, 4 girths wide. I noticed that some trees are burned on the inside. “Could that be from lightning?” I wondered. “Of course not, that is from marten hunting in the 80s. They set the hollow, where the marten lived, on fire, and then lured the animal out and let the dogs catch it. A marten’s skin was worth up to 100 rubles in the USSR. A beaver’s was 300. The beavers couldn’t be found anywhere at that time,” Sergey answered.
It was calm in the forest. I would like to see a wonderful snowy fairy tale for sure, but winter was too warm that year and lacked any precipitation. I remembered that these places were depicted by Ivan Turgenev in “A Sportsman’s Sketches” ("The Hunting Sketches”) almost nothing had changed since then. Only the bison appeared.
After walking and breathing the fresh forest air, Sergey and I returned to one of the feeders. The nature reserve manager decided to install another camera trap for a couple of weeks. “Who is usually caught on camera, besides the bison?” I wondered. “A lynx was spotted recently, black storks, literally a meter away. Those are hard to find”. “Just like the bison”, I thought. We haven’t been able to spot a wild group, not even from afar.
The “Four Seasons of Russia” project is supported by the Russian geographical society www.rgo.ru
The trip to Kaluzhskiye Zaseki is recommended by the Russian geographical society.
Translation: Irina Romanova, Instagram: @astrabella1
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