Bison

Bos bison, or the American bison, is the largest land mammal native to North America. It is placed in the same genus, Bos, as the domestic cattle. However, some taxonomists categorize it in the genus Bison, arguing that there is a substantial number of differences to separate it from domestic cattle. The American bison can be separated into two subspecies: B. Bison bison and B. Bison athabascae. B. Bison bison, or the plains bison, is more common in western United States. The plains bison also has short horns and a short and thinly furred tail. On the other hand, B. Bison athabascae, or the wood bison, is more common in Canada, has long horns, and a long and heavily furred tail. Additionally, the plains bison tends to be smaller than the wood…

American plains bison has had a very interesting past in America and has served a various amount of purposes. The American bison played a crucial role in the native American tribe’s ways of life here in Colorado. The American Bison also made an impact not only on the settlers of Colorado but on the north American prairie. On the verge of extinction, the bison was able to repopulate with help with Americas National Parks. After sometime Colorado cultivated its own herd of genetically pure bison.…

Did you know bison can grow to 5 or 6 feet tall and can weigh up to 2,500 pounds? They are pretty huge animals, and they look even more ginormous when 5 of them are standing right in front of you. We were in Colorado at the time; enjoying the not unbelievably humid air (unlike Louisiana). We were staying at an RV park right next to an ATV trail; which we planned to ride our ATV on. The day after we got there, I was sitting outside around 4 or 5 PM, being bored, when I decided to ask if I could…

Animals certainly have not had it easy when it comes to living alongside humans. Some of our favorite species today were abused and killed for their hides and bones to make work easier, and everyday life more luxurious. To kill another being in order make one’s life simpler seems like a ludicrous act to make, but it was normal in the 19th century. As the need of an animal’s body increased, their number’s became sparse due to the mass killing. People started to realize that without the animals…

The bison bonasus has lived among mankind for 2 million years. It originated from the bison palaeosinis in the early pleistocene in Southern Asia. Bison are large, even-toed ungulates living within the subfamily bovinus. They live in grassland ecosystems and roamed the grassland in large herds long ago. In the early 1800’s the population of the bison was in the tens of millions. By the end of that century there were fewer than 1000. The bison is a very large land mammal that can grow up to 9…

In our American history, we have hunted the American bison almost to extinction. In almost a century, the bison population went from roughly 60 million in 1800 to 14 million in 1870 (Lott 2003). Some people call this time, the "Great Slaughter." The military had issued orders to kill the bison. The thought of the government was that if you killed the bison, you killed the Native Americans. The hides were also great for crossing the freezing Plains of the United States, when going West was the…

On Indians.org they explained how they didn’t just use animals for meat, they felt as if they were spiritually connected to them. They explained that, “The animals were revered as spirits, and although they were hunted and killed, their skins and hides were used as clothing and drums, their meat was never wasted, and their spirits lived on in the mind of the tribes.” In the movie, there was several parts where they were celebrating and banging on drums. For example, after the big bison stampede…

A herd of wild bison has been reintroduced to Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, marking the first time that bison have roamed this part of Canada since they were hunted to near extinction in the 19th century. Parks Canada — the Canadian government agency that manages national parks, conservation areas and historical sites — relocated the 16 bison, which primarily include pregnant females, to the remote Panther Valley in Banff National Park, the Calgary Herald reported. Initially, the…

been known as an UNESCO Heritage Site located in Alberta, Canada. This bison jump is a known archaeological site, that preserves the early history of Plains First Nations (Brink et al. 1986) Aboriginal people who roamed the Plains understood the importance of resources and regional topography. By understanding how the environment functioned and thrived, Plains people were also able to monitor and develop a better understanding of buffalo mobility and behaviour. (Brink 2008) Aboriginal people…

resources (Reader’s Digest, 170). The Sioux Tribe lived an unfamiliar lifestyle to most. They were always moving from one place to the next, chasing the bison that surrounded them. This way of life would have been extremely difficult if it wasn’t for the tepee. The Sioux Tribe used tepees because they were easy to move around (Myths About Native Americans, 17). They were able to pack them tightly, set up quickly, and provide the tribe with shelter. Although the tepees would be considered “empty”…