On 19th December of the last year, exactly on the Orthodox holiday of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, in the herd of Bryansk wisents a calf was born. That was already the third little wisent born at the territory of the «Bryansk Forest» Nature Reserve. The first two, called Mefody and Feya, already look just like many mature wisents and they are as big and as strong as they are.
The little one was born at an unusual time, in winter. But taking the mildness of the last winter and the lack of frost into consideration one could have no worry about the life of the newborn. Three months later the calf turned into a fine, well growing wisent.
We turned to all the friends of the «Bryansk Forest» Nature Reserve with a request to find a name for the little one. According to the international classification of wisent names, it should start with «me». There came several tens of variants, from Menandr to Merzavchik. After all, the most active members of the staff of the «Bryansk Forest» Nature Reserve chose one name from all the introduced.
– Choosing a name we decided on one special trait, – says Elena Sitnikova, the deputy director of science of «Bryansk Forest» Nature Reserve. – The calf was born on 19th December, on the Orthodox holiday of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. Many people proposed the variant sounding close to his name. And we decided he would be Mekola!
The programme for the rehabilitation of the population of wisents in the «Bryansk Forest» Nature Reserve has been underway since 2011. The first stage, when several groups of the animals were brought from two farms of the country, was over in 2013. The second stage can be considered to be over when the population numbers 50 individuals. Today there are 24 wisents: 10 females and 14 males in the «Bryansk Forest».
