borrowing from , previously also used to denote one race of the European bison. The Polish żubr is similar to the word for the European bison in other modern Slavic languages, such as and . The noun for the European bison in all living Slavonic tongues is thought to be derived from Proto-Slavic: *zǫbrъ ~ *izǫbrъ, which itself possibly comes from Proto-Indo-European: *ǵómbʰ- for tooth, horn or peg. Description The European bison is the heaviest surviving wild land animal in Europe. Similar to their American cousins, European bison were potentially larger historically than remnant descendants; modern animals are about in length, not counting a tail of , in height, and in weight for males, and about in body length without tails, in height, and in weight for females. At birth, calves are quite small, weighing between . In the free-ranging population of the Białowieża Forest of Belarus and Poland, body masses among adults (aged 6 and over) are on average in the cases of males, and among females. An occasional big bull European bison can weigh up to or more with old bull records of for lowland wisent and for Caucasian wisent. On average, it is lighter in body mass, and yet slightly taller at the shoulder, than its American relatives, the wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) and the plains bison (Bison bison bison). Compared to the American species, the wisent has shorter hair on the neck, head, and forequarters, but longer tail and horns. See differences from American bison. The European bison makes a variety of vocalisations depending on its mood and behaviour, but when anxious, it emits a growl-like sound, known in Polish as chruczenie (). This sound can also be heard from wisent males during the mating season. History Prehistory Historically, the lowland European bison's range encompassed most of the lowlands of northern Europe, extending from the Massif Central to the Volga River and the Caucasus. It may have once lived in the Asiatic part of what is now the Russian Federation, reaching to Lake Baikal and Altai Mountains in east. The European bison is known in southern Sweden only between 9500 and 8700 BP, and in Denmark similarly is documented only from the Pre-Boreal. It is not recorded from the British Isles, nor from Italy or the Iberian Peninsula, although prehistorical absence of the species among British Isles is debatable; bison fossils of unclarified species have