Bison• American Bison• Family - Bovidae • Genus - Bison

Physical Features• Height 6 – 6.5 ft. at shoulder• Length 10 – 12.5 ft.• Weight 900 – 2000 lbs., males are just a smidge larger than

females.• Lifespan is about 18 – 22 years and in captivity they live to

be about 30 years old.• They have a long, shaggy, dark brown winter coat and

during summer the buffaloes coat is not as heavy and lighter brown.

Range• Bison once roamed across the great planes

until they started to go extinct. Now they are mostly found in national and protected parks around the eastern United States.

There range before people started killing them.

After

• This bison is what you would call a keystone species, meaning an ecosystem may experience a dramatic shift if a keystone species is removed, the bison helped shape the Great Planes to what they look like today.

Fun Fact!

• Trails carved by animals like bison and deer in their seasonal migrations formed some of the earliest traceable paths into the American wilderness and were followed by native Americans, explorers and pioneers.

Food

• Bison eat grasses and sedges.

Behavior• Bison mostly graze all day and play

around and the females usually lead the herds.

• The males sort of break off of the group then rejoin during mating season.

• Mating season is between June and September and they have a gestation period of 270-285 days.