Bison Facts

25 Bison Eagle Facts For Kids

1. The American bison is a cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammal that is a member of the Bovidae family.
2. The bison’s binominal name is Bison bison.
3. There are two subspecies of bison in North America: the plains bison (B. b. bison) and the wood bison (B. b. athabascae).
4. The American bison is commonly called the bison, but colloquially known as a buffalo.
5. The bison’s habitat range is sporadically throughout North America.
6. The bison’s habitat range is only 1% of the size it covered historically.
7. The bison’s preferred habitat is plains, prairies, and river valleys.
8. There are an estimated 30,000 bison living in the wild and around 400,000 raised as livestock.
9. Adult bison have a light-brown coat in the summer and a dark-brown coat in the winter.
10. Juvenile bison have an orange-reddish coat, which is where they get their nickname of red dogs.
11. Bison are omnivores that graze grasslands and eat primarily grass and sedges.
12. Bison are social mammals and live in same gender herds, coming together during the breeding season.
13. A male bison can reach a maximum length of up to 11 feet and 6 inches.
14. A female bison can reach a maximum length of up to 9 feet and 4 inches.
15. The weight of an adult bison can be as low as 700 pounds or as high as 2,600 pounds.
16. The average adult bison can reach running speeds of up to 40 miles per hour.
17. The average adult bison can jump up to 6 feet in the air.
18. The average life span of a bison is 30 years.
19. The bison is the largest native terrestrial (land animal) living in North America.
20. In the late 18th century, there were an estimated 60 million bison in North America, but due to hunting and habitat destruction their population got down to ~500 individuals by 1889. As of 2019, there were an estimated ~30,000 wild bison in North American.
21. In 1905, the American Bison Society (ABS) was founded to help save the bison from extinction. One of the most notable founders of the ABS was former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.
22. The bison is considered a religious symbol and sacred animal to several Native American tribes, notably the Plains Indians.
23. The American bison is the National mammal of the United States of America.
24. The American bison is the official state mammal of Wyoming.
25. The bison is the official mascot of the University of Colorado.

Bison Pictures

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the below images will be helpful for your research on bison. Below are three pictures of various bison species. These pictures should help you better understand the different types of bison found around the world.

A picture of the American bison (Bison bison)

A picture of the European bison (Bison bonasus)

A picture of a small herd of American bison.