Bison

This is an article about an animal. For other uses, see Bison (disambiguation).

Bison
Bison bison or buffalo Bison bonasus or Wisent
Conservation status
Near Threatened
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Artiodactyla Family: Bovidae Subfamily: Bovinae Genus: Bison Hamilton Smith, 1827 Species: Bison bonasus
Species
†B. antiquus B. bison B. bonasus †B. latifrons †B. occidentalis †B. priscus

Bison is a taxonomic group containing six species of large even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Only two of these species still exist: the American Bison (B. bison) and the European Bison, or wisent (B. bonasus).

Name

In American Western culture, the bison is commonly referred to as "buffalo"; however, this is a misnomer: though both bison and buffalo belong to the Bovidae family, the term \'buffalo\' properly applies only to the Asian Water Buffalo and African Buffalo. The gaur, a large, thick-coated ox found in Asia, is also known as the Indian Bison, although it is in the genus Bos and thus not a true bison.

Description

The American and European bison are the largest terrestrial mammals in North America and Europe. Like their cattle relatives, bison are nomadic grazers and travel in herds, except for the non-dominant bulls, which travel alone or in small groups during most of the year. American bison are known for living in the Great Plains. Both species were hunted close to extinction during the 19th and 20th centuries but have since rebounded, although the European bison is still endangered.

Unlike the Asian Water Buffalo, the bison has never really been domesticated, although it does appear on farms occasionally. It is raised now mostly on large ranches in the United States and Canada for meat. Wild herds are found in Yellowstone, Utah\'s Antelope Island, South Dakota\'s Custer State Park, Alaska, and northern central Canada (see Wood Bison).

Bison live to be about 20 years old and are born without their trademark "hump" or horns. With the development of their horns, they become mature at two to three years of age, although the males continue to grow slowly to about age seven. Adult bulls express a high degree of dominance competitiveness during mating season.

Bison are up to 11.5 feet (3.5m) in length, up to 6.5 feet (2m) in height and up to one ton in weight.

Re-introduction to the wild

On March 16, 2007, 15 Canadian bison were re-introduced to Colorado to roam where they did over a century ago. A fenced herd of 15 bison has been established in the 17,000-acre (69 km²) Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, a former chemical weapons manufacturing site.

On September 21, 2007, new research was published by biologist Dennis Hedgecock of the University of Southern California and Texas A&M University in the journal Animal Genetics. DNA analysis of the Catalina wild American Bison of Santa Catalina Island, California showed that it is not pure bred -- 45% of them have the domesticated cow in their ancestry. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-09-21-3401087937_x.htm AP Science (via USA Today), Study: Catalina bison aren\'t purebred]

See also

• Bovid hybrids
• American Bison
• Plains Bison
• Wood Bison
• Ancient Bison
• Water Buffalo
• African Buffalo

Gallery

References

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Bison

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