2 Roubles Bison

Belarus introduced a redesigned circulation coinage series in 2016 following the redenomination that stripped four zeros from the old ruble, collapsing 10,000 old rubles into a single new one — the country's second redenomination since 1994. The bison on this denomination references the European bison, or wisent, which came within a handful of individuals of extinction in the wild; the last free-ranging specimen was shot in 1927. Captive breeding programs, anchored largely in Białowieża Forest straddling the Belarusian-Polish border, brought the species back from roughly 54 animals.