50 Roubles Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Zubr

Belovezhskaya Pushcha — straddling the Belarus-Poland border — is one of the last and largest remnants of the primeval forest that once covered the European Plain. The European bison depicted here was hunted to extinction in the wild by 1927, the last individuals shot during World War I and its aftermath by soldiers and poachers exploiting the collapse of Imperial Russian oversight. The Pushcha's captive-bred herd formed the entire basis for all subsequent reintroduction efforts across Europe.

Belarus issued several denominations in this nature series through the mid-2000s, with the gold pieces attracting collector premiums well above their bullion value.