The Last Bison cover
The Last Bison cover
All rights reserved. © Tomasz Samojlik 2009
View full graphic novel at RCIN, the Polish Digital Repository of Scientific Institutes.
The copyright holder reserves, or holds for their own use, all the rights provided by copyright law, such as distribution, performance, and creation of derivative works.
Samojlik, Tomasz. The Last Bison. Białowieża: Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, 2009.
Samojlik’s The Last Bison is a graphic novel inspired by the disappearance of the wild European bison, or wisent (Bison bonasus), from Białowieża Primeval Forest in the aftermath of World War I due to sustained logging and poaching. Set in 1919, the book tells a fictional story about the extinction of wisent in the area and the adventures of a baby wisent who survives to become the protector of the forest. Mainly aimed at a young audience and including all the features of a fairy tale, the book is nonetheless greatly informed by the history of conservation in Białowieża and is accompanied by thoroughly researched footnotes.
View the full graphic novel, in DJVU format, at RCIN, the Polish Digital Repository of Scientific Institutes.
Tomasz Samojlik is a biologist and environmental historian working at the Mammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences at Białowieża. He is conducting a research project covering 2,500 years on the history of human influence on the environment of Białowieża Primeval Forest. He is also a talented cartoonist.
