American Bison
Bison bison
Summary 3
The Bison bison is commonly referred to as the American Bison or buffalo. Bison are a very large even toed mammal. They have dark brown bodies, with a darker colored head, and are shaggy through the shoulder/neck/head area. Males are larger than females. From head to tail they measure 2.5-3 meters and can stand up to 186 cm tall at the shoulder. Average weight is between 318 to 1000 kg. Both sexes grow horns and have a large head. Calves are more of a red-brown color and are considerably smaller. Bison have no close relatives in North America besides domestic cattle. Although not found in Iron County, Utah does have two free ranging herds found on the Henry Mountains and Antelope Island. Their tracks are large and similar to cattle only they are more rounded in the front and rear. Their scat is bovine in appearance usually brownish and can be round to oblong in shape, usually clumped or in the form of a "cow patty".
Sources and Credits
- (c) Manfred Höffken, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/14143122@N05/3373629007
- (c) jasonstewart1, all rights reserved
- Adapted by jasonstewart1 from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bison_bison
