Chapter 567: Rare North American Bison
Here, towering cen and linden trees grow almost 150 feet, and the massive canopy shades a soggy ground vegetation of hornhorns, ferns, marsh alders, and bowl-shaped fungi.
The oak tree is covered in moss and is more than 500 years old.
They are so large that the great spotted woodpecker can hide the spruce bulbs in the folds of their bark. The air was dense and clear, and silence was everywhere, occasionally broken by the hoarse quack of a star crow, the low howl of a pygmy owl, or the howl of a wolf.
In the forest, the leaf cover deposited over the ages gives off a faint fragrance. In the primeval forests of Belovezh, the lush life comes from the red that turns into spring mud.
Nearly a quarter of above-ground organic communities grow in decaying material of all kinds—more than 50 cubic meters of decaying tree trunks and fallen branches per acre that feed thousands of species of mushrooms, mosses, bark beetles, insect larvae, and microorganisms that have long since been found in other cared forests.
These creatures, in turn, provide abundant food for weasels, pine martens, raccoons, badgers, otters, foxes, bobcats, wolves, roe deer, elk, and eagles. There is more life here than anywhere else on the continent – however, there are no mountains or sheltered valleys around the forests, so there are no unique environmental requirements for endemic species to survive.
The Belovezh Forest is a remnant of the ancient forest that once stretched from Siberia in the east to Ireland in the west.
Such an intact biological site enjoys supreme privileges in Europe.
In the 14th century, a Lithuanian duke named Władysław II Jagiello succeeded in forming an alliance between his Grand Duchy and the Kingdom of Poland, after which he declared the forest a royal hunting ground. This has been the case for centuries.
When the Polish-Lithuanian alliance was finally incorporated into Russia, the Belovezh forest became the exclusive domain of the Tsar. During the First World War, the Germans marched on a large scale to cut down trees and slaughter lives, but despite this, the main part of the primeval forest survived and became a Polish national park in 1921.
Under Soviet rule, there was a resurgence of timber deforestation, but during the Nazi invasion, a field marshal named Herman Göring, because of his love of nature, ordered the entire forest to be off-limits
Here, Europe's only North American bison roam freely on this land, and there is also an even rarer wild horse, called the steppe wild horse.
About a thousand years ago, countless bison crossed Europe to Poland.
By the beginning of the century, the bison population had plummeted due to overhunting, and now only a small number live in the Belovezh Nature Reserve. The remaining animals were also not safe, and were hunted down by poachers and German soldiers during World War I.
By 1923 there were only 60 bison in the world, and by 1978 the number of bison in Poland had increased to 206, all of which had been protected, and a systematic catalogue of bison had been published, and all bison were registered worldwide.
Many areas of the park have been strictly protected, while the Polish government has built many camping sites and roads to make it easy for all visitors to enjoy the area.
This vast forest of evergreens and broad-leaved forests in the watershed of the Baltic and Black Seas is home to some of the most exotic animals, such as wolves, lynxes, otters, and more than 300 European bison that have been reintroduced to the park.
Human efforts have made the Belovezh Nature Reserve a miracle in the study of the history of biological development, attracting a large number of archaeologists to investigate. The vast majority of the area was spared destruction, and the fruits of ancient human civilization were preserved.
More than 600 ancient Slavic tombs have been excavated, the largest of which consists of 134 tombs. Many areas of the park have been strictly protected, while the Polish government has built many camping sites and roads to make it easy for all visitors to enjoy the area.
I have a lot of fun in the city, and it is also very fresh to go to the forest once in a while.
Ye Chao didn't steal other people's bison, and he didn't steal other people's women, a desolate place like the forest is the least favorite place for human beings in history. But when urbanization affects forests and encroaches on them, they suddenly become important and attractive.
Of course, after watching it for a long time, it is still the same sentence, there is no banquet in the world that will not be dispersed.
Before leaving Belarus, Ye Chao also wanted to go to Mir Castle.
Mir Castle, located in the town of Mir, Grodno Oblast, Belarus, was built at the end of the 15th century and is an outstanding example of castle architecture in Central Europe, with a combination of artistic styles (Gothic, Baroque and Renaissance) of various periods, thus creating an extraordinary historical monument.
The Mir Castle complex is an outstanding example of castle architecture in Central Europe, combining artistic styles from all phases (Gothic, Baroque and Renaissance) to create an extraordinary historical monument. The area where Mill Castle is located has a history of political and cultural separation.
This turmoil is clearly reflected in the architectural appearance of the castle.
Originally presented as a towering Gothic façade, the Mir Castle has been continuously expanded and renovated in a neat Renaissance style and then in the ornate Baroque style. After nearly a century of desolation and devastation during the Napoleonic wars, it was rebuilt in the late 19th century, adding other styles to the original style, and turning the castle into a park with some new buildings built around it.
The architectural development of Mir Castle also provides a glimpse into the turbulent history of Europe. Mir Castle is a great masterpiece in the history of Belize architecture, built by the Duke of Ilinich in place of the wooden feudal farm built in the 15th century and the surrounding buildings in the early 16th century near the village of Mir (Grodno region), at the end of the 15th century, the construction of Mir Castle began with the popularity of the Gothic architectural style.
It was subsequently rebuilt in the Baroque style during the Renaissance. After being abandoned for almost a century and suffering serious damage during the time of Napoleon I, the castle was restored at the end of the 19th century, thanks to the addition of many other elements and the landscaping of the surrounding area as a park.