Bison
Bison
The bison is a member of the bovine family. Commonly identified “buffalo” (which is actually a different animals not discovered in North America), it is the leading land mammal in North America. There are two subspecies: the timber bison in northern Canada and the plains bison which after roamed every where in much of the continent. The bison has a large head with relatively small, curving horns. Its dark black coat is for a while and shaggy on the forequarters, including the front legs, neck, and shoulders, while the rest of the body has shorter, finer hair.
Go Wild This Season!Help restore bison to the American Plains! Have you “herd”? When you adopt a bison, you’ll not only be giving a terrific gift, but you’ll also be helping to restore bison to the American plains.
Bison are knew a keystone animals - they once roamed the continent in prohibative herds, and their grazing pressure helped shape the ecology of the Great Plains.
Height 6-6.5 feet at the shoulder
Length 10-12.5 feet
Weight 900-2,000 lbs; males are larger as opposed to females
Lifespan 18-22 years in the wild; over 30 ages in captivity
Diet
Staples grasses and sedges
Population
Historically, bison numbered an forecasted 20-30 million. Unregulated shooting of bison, which culminated in mass slaughters during the 1870s, reduced the population to 1,091 in 1889. Today, something like 500,000 bison reside around North America. Most are not pure bison but fairly suffer been cross-bred with cattle in the previous and are raised as livestock on ranches. Fewer than 30,000 bison are in protection herds, and a lower amount of than 5,000 are free-ranging and disease-free.
Range
Bison subsequent to roamed throughout much of North America. Today bison are ecologically extinct over most of this historic range, excluding for a few nationwide parks and a greater number of efficient wildlife areas. Yellowstone National Park has the largest populace of free-roaming plains bison (about 4,000), and Wood Buffalo National Park has the highest population of free-roaming wood bison (about 10,000).
Behavior
Bison move continuously as they eat so that properties rarely overgraze an area. They historically roamed superior distances. The females, or cows, trigger family groups. Bulls remain solitary or in diminutive groups for most of the year, but rejoin the group during mating season.
Bison often rub, roll, and wallow. Wallowing creates a saucer-like depression labeled a wallow. This wallow was yet a common feature of the plains; usually these types of wallows are dust bowls without any vegetation. In winter, bison can dig through deep snow with such a heads to reach the vegetation below.
Bison have poor eyesight, but have acute hearing and an excellent sense of smell. Bison can get through to speeds of up to 35 mph.
Reproduction
Mating Season June-September, highest activity in July-August.
Gestation 270-285 days. Calf is born April-May.
Litter size 1 calf.
Threats
Cross breeding with cattle threatens the genetic purity of bison. The few remaining genetically pure wild bison should be conserved separate from cross-bred bison to cover pure bison genes.
Today, the bison of Yellowstone National Park also face the threat of slaughter when they cross park boundaries and enter the neighborhood of Montana. The Montana Department of Agriculture fears the contamination of cattle by bison carrying the disease brucellosis, regardless of there are no well&wshyp;known examples of brucellosis passed by bison to domestic cattle in the wild.
Legal Status/Protection
* CITES Appendix II (wood bison only; plains bison have no protection)
* Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an international treaty investing in 172 member countries. Appendix I listed animals cannot be traded commercially. Appendix II listed species can be traded commercially sole if it performs not lower the survival.
The list of extinct animals in Africa features the animals that have become extinct on the African continent and its islands, like Madagascar, Mauritius, Rodrigues, Réunion, Seychelles, St. Helena, Cape Verde, etc.
Global Holocene Extinctions
Extinctions in the wild