Favorite Images of Bison

A list of my favorite images of bison.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bison

Bison (also called buffalo) are large, even-toed ungulates in the genus Bison within the subfamily Bovinae.

Two extant and four extinct species are recognized. Of the four extinct species, three were North American: Bison antiquus, B. latifrons and B. occidentalis. The fourth, B. priscus, ranged across steppe environments from Western Europe, through Central Asia, and onto North America.

Of the two surviving species, the American bison, B. bison, found only in North America, is the most numerous. (Although sometimes referred to as a "buffalo", it is only distantly related to the true buffalo.)

The North American species is composed of two subspecies, the plains bison, B. b. bison, and the wood bison, B. b. athabascae, which is the namesake of Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada. The European bison B. bonasus, or wisent, is found in Europe and the Caucasus, reintroduced after being extinct in the wild.

While all bison 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 have a limited ability to interbreed.

The American bison and the European bison (wisent) are the largest terrestrial animals in North America and Europe.

Bison are good swimmers and can cross rivers over half a mile (1 km) wide. They are nomadic grazers and travel in herds. The bulls leave the herds of females at two or three years of age and join a male herd which is generally smaller than the female herds. Mature bulls rarely travel alone. Towards the end of the summer, for the reproductive season, the sexes necessarily commingle.

American bison are known for living in the Great Plains. Both species were hunted close to extinction during the 19th and 20th centuries, but have since rebounded. The American plains bison is no longer listed as endangered but the wood bison is on the endangered species list in Canada.