Bison

"Buffalo" redirects here. For the city in New York, see Buffalo, New York.

Bison
Bison bison or buffalo
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Subfamily:	Bovinae
Genus:	Bison Hamilton Smith, 1827

A group of Wisents.

Bisons are a group of even-toed ungulate mammals. They form the genus Bison of the subfamily Bovinae and the family Bovidae. They are the biggest mammals in North America.

Taxonomy

• Genus Bison
  • American Bison (Bison bison)
  • Wisent or European Bison (Bison bonasus)

Habitat

Bison live in the northern part of the world. The American Bison lives in North America, and the Wisent lives in Europe. They can also live in rugged areas.

Life

They live to be about 20 years old and are born without their "hump" or horns, which both males and females have. After shedding their light colored hair, and with their horns, they are grown at 2 to 3 years of age, but the males keep growing slowly until about age seven. Adult bulls are very dominant in mating season. Adult bison usually have one or two baby bison.

American Bison

American Bison are large, plant-eating mammals that are similar to cows. Even though they are often called buffalo, they are not really related to them. They used to wander around the prairies of North America in huge herds. There used to be as many as 30 million bison in the United States, but because of hunting, by 1890, only 1,000 bison were left. Through conservation efforts, there are now more American bison than there used to be, but still far fewer than there were before the 1800s.