The European bison is one of the world’s rarest mammals. Once free ranging among temperate deciduous forest that stretched from the British Isles, across Europe and into Siberia, the European bison is now struggling to recover from a tiny remnant population. Probably less than twenty of these magnificent animals survived into the 1920’s, and even though numbers are increasing, the limited gene pool does mean that they are still at risk of extinction.

Nostril cleaning is a matter of personal hygiene for bison. Given the opportunity flies will lay eggs within nostril cavities. Once hatched the tiny grubs would be the source of major irritation, driving the host into a state of frustrated madness.