American buffalo facts for kids
The American bison (also called American buffalo or just buffalo) is a large mammal related to cattle. Even though it's often called "buffalo," it's actually quite different from the water buffalo or African buffalo.
Bison are very important to their environment. They mainly eat grasses and sedges. Long ago, huge herds of bison roamed across North America. Their grazing helped shape the land of the Great Plains.
A bison has a big head with small, curved horns. Its fur is dark brown. It's long and shaggy on its front legs, neck, and shoulders. The rest of its body has shorter, finer hair.
American bison live in river valleys, prairies, and plains. They like open grasslands or areas with some trees and bushes. Bison can also graze in hilly or mountainous places, as long as the slopes aren't too steep.
While bison don't usually live at very high elevations, some in Yellowstone National Park are found above 8,000 feet. The Henry Mountains bison herd in Utah lives on plains and in mountain valleys up to 10,000 feet high.
Bison once lived all over North America. But now, they are mostly gone from many areas where they used to live. You can still find them in a few national parks and other wildlife areas.
For many centuries, Native American tribes have had strong cultural and spiritual ties to the American bison. Today, the bison is the national mammal of the United States.
Contents
- What Does an American Bison Look Like?
- How Are American and European Bison Different?
- Where Do Bison Live Now?
- How Do Bison Behave?
- Who Hunts Bison?
- Bison Hunting and Protection
- Bison Trails
- Bison as a Symbol
- Are Bison Dangerous to Humans?
- Interesting Facts About American Bison
- Images for kids
- See also
What Does an American Bison Look Like?
A bison has a shaggy, long, dark-brown coat in winter. In summer, its coat is lighter and thinner. Bison can grow up to 6 feet 6 inches (2 meters) tall and 10 feet (3 meters) long. They can weigh from 900 to 2,200 pounds (400 to 1,000 kg).
Male bison are usually a bit bigger than females. The largest bison ever recorded weighed about 2,500 pounds (1,134 kg). Their heads and front parts are very large. Both male and female bison have short, curved horns. They use these horns to fight for their place in the herd and to defend themselves.
Bison are herbivores, meaning they only eat plants. They graze on the grasses and sedges of the North American prairies. They usually eat in the morning and evening, resting during the day.
Bison mate in August and September. A baby bison is born about 285 days later, in the spring. This single reddish-brown calf drinks its mother's milk for about a year. Bison become adults at three years old. They live for about 15 years in the wild and up to 25 years in captivity.
Young bison are lighter in color than adult bison for their first three months. Very rarely, a calf can be born completely white. Many Native Americans believe white bison are sacred.
How Are American and European Bison Different?
American bison and European bison are similar, but they have some physical and behavioral differences.
- The American bison has 15 ribs, while the European bison has 14.
- American bison have four lumbar vertebrae (bones in the lower back), but European bison have five.
- Adult American bison have shorter legs than European bison.
American bison tend to graze more (eat grass) and browse less (eat leaves and twigs) than their European relatives. This is because their necks are shaped differently. The American bison's body is hairier, but its tail has less hair than the European bison's tail.
The horns of a European bison point forward. This helps them fight by locking horns. American bison, however, prefer to charge when fighting. American bison are also easier to tame than European bison. They also breed more easily with domestic cattle.
Where Do Bison Live Now?
You can find bison in herds owned by the public and by private people. Custer State Park in South Dakota has 1,500 bison. This is one of the largest public herds in the world. About 500,000 bison live on around 4,000 privately owned ranches. These are mostly plains bison.
Today, bison are raised for their meat and hides. Bison meat has less fat and cholesterol than beef. This led to the creation of beefalo, which is a mix of bison and domestic cattle.
Wildlife experts believe that truly wild bison herds, with no genes from domestic cattle, can only be found in a few places. These include Yellowstone National Park, Henry Mountains in Utah, Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota, and Elk Island National Park and Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta, Canada.
It's thought that there are only about 12,000 to 15,000 pure bison left in the world. The rest have some genes from domestic cattle.
How Do Bison Behave?
Bison are mostly grazers. Both male and female herds move with the seasons to find fresh grass. Bison can eat most of the grass in an area quickly. So, they have to keep moving to feed the whole herd.
Male and female herds usually stay separate until breeding season. Female bison live with other females and their young in "maternal" herds. Male bison do not help raise the young. Male offspring leave these maternal herds when they are about three years old. Then, they either live alone or join other males in "bachelor" herds.
A bison wallow is a shallow dip in the ground. Bison roll in these spots, covering themselves with dust or mud. Scientists think bison wallow to clean themselves or just to play.
Who Hunts Bison?
In some areas, wolves are a main predator of bison. Wolves often hunt bison in late spring and early summer, focusing on herds with calves. Bison usually ignore wolves unless they are acting like they are hunting.
Bison have five main ways to protect their calves from wolves:
- Running to a cow (female bison).
- Running to the main herd.
- Running to the nearest bull (male bison).
- Running in front or in the middle of a stampeding herd.
- Entering water like lakes or rivers.
The Grizzly Bear can also be a danger to bison calves and sometimes even adult bison.
Bison Hunting and Protection
Plains Indians hunted American Bison for centuries. At first, they would drive bison on foot into pens or over cliffs. After Europeans arrived, Native Americans could hunt bison more easily using horses.
When Europeans moved west in the 1800s, the bison population was hunted very heavily. Americans hunted bison for their skins, often leaving the meat to rot. Sometimes, they did this to take food away from the Plains Indians.
Native Americans also contributed to the decline of bison. For example, the Comanche alone killed 280,000 bison a year by the 1830s. However, unlike the Europeans, Native Americans used every part of the buffalo. A long and severe drought also hurt the bison population.
By the end of the 1800s, people who cared about nature noticed that there were very few bison left in the U.S. Even though the U.S. government didn't help much at first, these conservationists started working to save the remaining bison. People like James "Scotty" Philip bought buffalo and raised them on private land. They hoped to bring the species back.
Today, Canada, the United States, and Mexico consider bison both wildlife and domestic livestock. The exact rules for bison vary in different states.
Bison Trails
Many of the first paths across America were made by bison. These routes, worn down by countless hooves, were used by Native Americans for hunting and as warrior paths. Explorers and pioneers also used them.
Many bison trails ran north and south. But several important east-west trails were later used for railways. Some of these include the Cumberland Gap, which went from the Potomac River to the Ohio River. Another went through the Blue Ridge Mountains to upper Kentucky.
A heavily used path called the trace crossed the Ohio River at the Falls of the Ohio. It then ran west, crossing the Wabash River near Vincennes, Indiana.
The bison truly helped pave the way for railroads to the Pacific Ocean.
Bison as a Symbol
The American bison is often used in North America on official seals, flags, and logos. In the United States, the American Bison is a popular symbol in the Great Plains states. Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming have made the bison their official state mammal. Many sports teams also use the bison as their mascot.
In Canada, the bison is the official animal of the province of Manitoba. It appears on the Manitoba flag. It's also used in the official coat of arms of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Several American coins feature the bison. Perhaps the most famous is on the back of the "buffalo nickel" made from 1913 to 1938. In 2005, the United States Mint made a new nickel with a bison as part of its "Westward Journey" series.
The Kansas and North Dakota state quarters, part of the "50 State Quarter" series, each feature bison.
Are Bison Dangerous to Humans?
Bison are among the most dangerous animals for visitors in U.S. and Canadian National Parks, especially Yellowstone National Park. Even though they don't eat meat, they will attack humans if they feel threatened.
They might look slow because of their calm movements, but they can easily outrun humans. They have been seen running as fast as 35 miles per hour (56 km/h).
Between 1978 and 1992, almost five times more people in Yellowstone National Park were hurt or killed by bison than by bears (56 by bison, 12 by bears). Bison are also more agile than you might think, given their large size.
Interesting Facts About American Bison
- The scientific name for the bison is Bison bison.
- The word “bison” is both singular and plural. So, you say "one bison" and "many bison."
- A bison’s hump is made of strong muscle. It is supported by its vertebrae (backbones).
- Its hump helps the bison use its head like a snow plow to clear snow.
- A bison's horns can grow up to two feet long.
- Bison eat plants and search for food for nine to eleven hours every day.
- A bison’s tail shows its mood. It might charge if its tail is standing straight up.
- Bison cannot see long distances very well. But they have excellent hearing and a very good sense of smell.
- Bison are more agile than they look. They can jump six feet high, swim well, turn around quickly, and run up to 35 miles per hour.
- Bison ruminate their food, just like cows. This means they chew their food, swallow it, and then bring it back up to chew it again.
Images for kids
-
Adult male (back) and adult female (front), in Yellowstone National Park
-
Male plains bison in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma
-
Skeleton of plains bison
-
An adult European bison
-
Bison herd grazing at the Bison Range in Montana
-
Bison fighting in Grand Teton National Park in Moose, Wyoming
-
Bison herd grazing in Chihuahua, Mexico
-
Wood bison reintroduction program in Sakha Republic.
-
A herd of American bison grazing at Tall Grass Prairie Preserve in Osage County, Oklahoma
-
Calf
-
A bison wallowing on dirt near Lamar River Canyon
-
A grizzly bear feeding on an American bison carcass.
-
Tourists approach dangerously close to a wild herd of American bison to take a photograph in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
-
Map from 1889 by William Temple Hornaday, illustrating his book, The Extermination of the American Bison
-
A wood bison around Coal River in Canada
-
Big Medicine (1933–1959) was a sacred white buffalo that lived on the Bison Range (permanent display at the Montana Historical Society)
-
Bison being chased off a cliff as "seen" and painted by Alfred Jacob Miller
-
Ulm Pishkun. Buffalo jump, SW of Great Falls, Montana. The Blackfoot drove bison over cliffs in the autumn to secure the winter supply. The Blackfoot used pishkuns as late as the 1850s.
-
Bison hunt under the wolf-skin mask, 1832–33
-
Series 1901 $10 legal tender depicting military explorers Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and an American bison
-
First postage stamp with image of bison was issued US in 1898—4¢ "Indian Hunting Buffalo", part of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition commemorative series
.jpg)
.jpg)
_(1).jpg)
.JPG)
.jpg)
_to_take_a_photo_at_Yellowstone_National_Park_in_Wyoming.jpg)
Quick facts for kids American bison |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| American bison | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Class: | |
| Order: | |
| Family: | |
| Genus: | |
| Binomial name | |
| Bison bison (Linnaeus, 1758)
|
|
See also
In Spanish: Bisonte americano para niños
