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Columbia Encyclopedia entry: bison

Bison, large hoofed mammal, genus Bison, of the cattle family. Bison have short horns and humped, heavily mantled shoulders that slope downward to the hindquarters. The European bison, or wisent, Bison bonasus, has a less luxuriant mane and beard than the American species, B. bison. The American bison is commonly called buffalo, although true buffalo are African and Asian animals of the same family. B. bison is characterized by a huge, low-slung head and massive hump; its legs are shorter than those of the wisent. Males may reach a shoulder height of over 5 ft (1.5 m), a body length of 9 ft (2.7 m), and a weight of 2,500 lb (1,130 kg). The winter coat of the American bison is dark brown and shaggy; it is shed in spring and replaced by a coat of short, light-brown fur. Bison graze on prairie grasses, migrating south in search of food in the winter. They formerly roamed in vast herds over much of North America, especially on the Great Plains, and were hunted by Native Americans for their flesh and hides. With the arrival of European settlers they were subjected to a wholesale slaughter that resulted in their near extinction. They were killed for their tongues, regarded as a delicacy, and shot for sport from trains. At the beginning of the 19th cent. there were over 60 million bison in North America. By the middle of the century the bison was extinct E of the Mississippi, and by 1900 there remained only two wild herds in North America, one of plains bison in Yellowstone Park, and one of the larger variety, called wood bison, in Canada. Protective laws were passed beginning at the end of the last century, and the bison population has since risen from a few hundred to many thousands, although most bison not on federal lands have been hybridized to some degree with domestic cattle. The wood bison may have vanished as a distinct race through hybridization with the plains bison. Bison are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Artiodactyla, family Bovidae.

See T. McHugh and V. Hobson, The Time of the Buffalo (1972); J. N. Mcdonald, North American Bison (1981); V. Geist, Buffalo Nation (1996).

Wikipedia search results for: Bison

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Members of the genus Bison are large even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant species and four extinct species are recognized. The surviving species are the American bison, Bison bison, found in North America, and the European bison, or wisent, found in Europe and the Caucasus. While these species are usually grouped into their own genus, they are sometimes included in the closely related genus Bos, together with cattle, gaur, kouprey and yaks, with which bison can interbreed. The American bison and the European wisent are the largest terrestrial mammals in North America and Europe. Bison are nomadic grazers and...more »

Columbia Encyclopedia search results: bison

Results 1 - 10 of 25

wisent
Wisent, name for the European bison, Bison bonasus. It is a close relative of the American bison, B. bison. Longer legged and less heavily built than its American cousin, the wisent may reach ...
buffalo, in zoology
Buffalo, name commonly applied to the American bison but correctly restricted to certain related African and Asian mammals of the cattle family. The water buffalo, or Indian buffalo, Bubalus b...
cattle
Cattle, name for the ruminant mammals of the genus Bos, and particularly those of the domesticated species, Bos taurus and B. indica. The term oxen, broadly used, refers also to closely relate...
Hornaday, William Temple
Hornaday, William Temple, 1854–1937, American naturalist, b. Plainfield, Ind. He was educated at Iowa State College (now Iowa State Univ.), continued his study of zoology and museology in Euro...
Białowieza
Białowieza, Rus. Byelovezhskaya Pushcha, large forest, c.450 sq mi (1,170 sq km), E Poland and W Belarus. The last great first-growth forest of Europe, its varied trees (predominantly pines) s...
sun dance
Sun dance, ceremony typical of the Plains Indians of North America. The ceremony was performed in the summer and lasted from two to eight days. Some of the ceremony was secret. Smoking, fastin...
Goodnight, Charles
Goodnight, Charles, 1836–1929, Texas cattleman, b. Macoupin co., Ill. He went to Texas in 1846, where he joined the Texas Rangers and became a noted scout and Indian fighter. He was later a pi...
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Theodore Roosevelt National Park, 70,447 acres (28,531 hectares), W N.Dak., in the Badlands and on the Little Missouri River; est. 1947. There are three units—the North Unit, the Elkhorn Ranch...
Folsom culture
Folsom culture, a group of Paleo-Indians (see Americas, antiquity and prehistory of the) known through artifacts first excavated (1926) near Folsom, E of Raton, N.Mex. The artifacts, including...
Wind Cave National Park
Wind Cave National Park, 28,295 acres (11,459 hectares), in the Black Hills, SW S.Dak.; est. 1903. Wind Cave, discovered in 1881, was named for the strong air currents that blow alternately in...

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