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Some facts about the
American bison
Adult weight : 630 kg (1386 lbs)
Maximum longevity : 34 years
Female maturity :912 days
Male maturity : 912 days
Gestation : 274 days
Weaning : 259 days
Litter size : 1
Litters per year : 1
Interval between litters : 452 days
Weight at birth : 20 kg (44 lbs)
Weight at weaning : 158 kg (347.6 lbs)
American bison
Order : Artiodactyla
Family : Bovidae
Subfamily : Bovinae
Species : Bison bison
Also called the American Buffalo, the American Bison (Bison bison) comes in two flavors: the plains bison and the woods bison. The bison inhabited the Great Plains of the United States and Canada in massive herds, going as far north as the Great Slave lake in Canada to Mexico. Bisons have a harem system where a bull has to defend its harem against rival males. The bison almost became extinct in the 1880's due to overhunting. Railroad companies would pay hunters to eradicate whole herds because the native Americans would leave, because the native Americans depended on the bison. The native Americans were the first to name the bison and named it Tatanka in the Lakota language, the largest of the three languages of the Sioux.
Which zoos have them?
Smithsonian National Zoological Park (United States)The American bison is listed as Conservation Dependent (LR/cd), the focus of a continuing taxon-specific or habitat-specific conservation programme targeted towards the taxon in question, the cessation of which would result in the taxon qualifying for one of the threatened categories below within a period of five years, on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Namings for the American bison
A young / baby of a American bison is called a 'calf'. The females are called 'cow' and males 'bull'. A American bison group is called a 'herd or troop'.
1. bison -- (any of several large shaggy-maned humped bovids having large heads and short horns)
bison
(Source WordNet)