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American Bison                                      

Bison bison                                                     

"Massive"                                                 

     The Bison is the largest animal in North America.  It has a broad, heavy head, which is carried low and cannot be raised to shoulder level.  The Bison also has a pronounced hump at the shoulders, heavy forequarters and 14 ribs instead of 13, as do other cattle.  The course shaggy fur is dark brown in color and grows especially long on the neck and shoulders and usually form a beard on the chin.  Both bison sexes bear short, up curved horns with those of the female being smaller.

     Bisons live in small groups or bands usually consisting of one or more females and several generations of their offspring.  Males engage head-butting contests during mating season to determine social dominance.  The cow usually gives birth to a single calf after 9 months gestation.  The main diet of the bison consists of grasses, sedges, forbs and other ground forage.

     The Plains Bison once roamed over N. America in numbers estimated as high as 50 million.  Weather hunted for substinence, the commercial sale of their meat an hides or simply for sport, by 1900 the

Bison neared extinction.  As of 1889, there were only 835 Bison left in the US.  Through concerted action of cattlemen and conservationists.  Bison were protected in government preserves. The present managed herds now total as many as 200,000 and ensure survival of the species.  The great free-ranging herds have disappeared. The wild herds that remain move freely only within parks or wildlife sanctuaries.

     Grizzly Bears, Black Bears, Gray Wolves and Cougars are the Bison's natural enemies.