To the musk oxen, who are settling in the Arctic, it has been decided to introduce bison, whose numbers could significantly increase by 2080. Russian scientists have concluded that climate change and warming in the Arctic will allow the creation of new bison populations in the North. About 100 years ago, bison were on the brink of extinction, but conservation and breeding programs have saved the species from disappearing. Currently, these animals inhabit mainly Poland, Belarus, Russia, and Germany, with the global bison population estimated at only about nine thousand individuals. Although extinction has been prevented, the number of these animals still depends on conservation efforts due to the reduction of their necessary habitats for survival. Scientists are working on increasing the population and expanding habitats for them. The Pleistocene Park in Yakutia – a protected natural area where large ungulates such as musk oxen, horses, bison, and camels have been introduced over time – became the focus of scientists from St. Petersburg State University and the Vologda Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. They concluded that the global bison population could be significantly increased if they were also introduced to the North, where there is plenty of space, few people and industries, and increasingly favorable climatic conditions. Scientists are concerned about the increasing snow cover in the North, which could limit bison habitats, but climate change and deforestation are welcomed – these troubling factors are actually expanding pasture lands. The European bison (Bison bonasus) is a species of even-toed ungulates in the genus Bison, part of the subfamily Bovinae, family Bovidae. The last wild cattle species in Europe. The closest relative to the bison is the American bison (Bison bison), with which it can interbreed freely, producing fertile offspring – bison-bison hybrids. Until recently, the European bison population consisted of two subspecies: the Caucasian and the lowland bison, both of which were exterminated in the wild. All present-day bison descend from just twelve individuals kept in zoos and reserves at the beginning of the 20th century. The oldest discovered bison fossils date back to the early Pleistocene, about one to two million years ago. The musk ox (Ovibos moschatus) is the only living representative of the genus Ovibos in the family Bovidae. The classification of musk oxen remains a subject of debate: until the early 19th century, musk oxen were classified in the subfamily Bovinae, but today, most are considered part of the subfamily Caprinae. The musk ox's closest living relative is the takin. The distant ancestors of modern musk oxen lived at the end of the Miocene (over 10 million years ago). Musk oxen, bison, and reindeer are the only hoofed mammals in the Arctic that survived the late Pleistocene extinction.