‘An emotional achievement:’ Scientists let go of ‘miraculous’ opposite-sex bison twins. Tymon Miller/sp 22.10.2025
The world’s first opposite-sex European bison twins have been released into the wilderness of southern Lithuania, in a conservation milestone for the continent’s largest land mammal.
The twins, a male named Dzvynys and a female named Dzvynė, were born in May 2024 in the Stėgaliai enclosure, part of the Dzūkija National Park.
They were set free in a herd of two additional young males and ten adult females, Lithuanian officials said on Tuesday.
According to the Vytautas Magnus University Academy of Agriculture, which manages the project, it was the first time in recorded history that opposite-sex European bison twins have survived and been successfully released into the wild.
“The birth of European bison twins is an extremely rare phenomenon even on a global scale,” said Artūras Kibiša, head of the Hunting Research Laboratory at Vytautas Magnus University. “There have been only a few cases in the entire modern history of monitoring the species.”
Unlikely Survivors
Records of bison twins go back nearly 80 years, but the books are laden with morbid histories.
In 1945, stillborn female twins were documented in Poland’s Pszczyna Forests, one of Europe’s oldest bison breeding sites.
In 1960, in Serpukhov in the former Soviet Union, two males were born—but the youngest died after his first birthday, followed by his brother just one year later.
Then came 1984, the year of hope and heartbreak.
“1984 brought even two twin cases: in Kraków Zoo, two males were born but both died after a few months, while at the same time in Germany’s Damerower Werder breeding center, one twin died quickly but the other lived for 19 years and left a large lineage,” Kibiša said.
Later attempts in Slovakia and Belarus replayed the familiar story, but success finally came in 2012 in Sweden’s Eriksberg breeding center, where both females survived, one living nine years and producing three offspring.
A Lucky Twist
But the history of the Dzvynys and Dzvynė twins begins with a lucky twist of fate.
In 2023, the reconstruction of Lithuania’s Kaunas Zoo forced the relocation of Dunst II, ultimately bringing him to Stėgaliai, where the opposite-sex twins would later be born.
“Dzvynys and Dzvynė are symbols that even rare miracles in nature can happen when people work wisely and responsibly,” said Vytautas Jeremičius, bison keeper at Stėgaliai.
Since 2022, Lithuania has relocated 46 young bison to Dzūkija National Park from free populations across the country to create genetically strong, ecologically balanced herds.
“This is not only an emotional achievement but also the result of strategic species protection,” Jeremičius said. “It proves that the future of bison in Lithuania is alive and promising.”
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