The American bison or simply bison (Bison bison), also commonly known
as the American buffalo or simply buffalo, is an American species of
bison that once roamed North America in vast herds. Its historical
range, by 9000 BCE, is described as the great bison belt, a tract of
rich grassland that ran from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico, east to the
Atlantic Seaboard (nearly to the Atlantic tidewater in some areas) as
far north as New York and south to Georgia and, according to some
sources, down to Florida, with sightings in North Carolina near
Buffalo Ford on the Catawba River as late as 1750. It nearly became
extinct by a combination of commercial hunting and slaughter in the
19th century and introduction of bovine diseases from domestic cattle.
With a population in excess of 60 million in the late 18th century,
the species was down to just 541 animals by 1889. Recovery efforts
expanded in the mid-20th century, with a resurgence to roughly 31,000
wild bison today, largely restricted to a few national parks and
reserves. Through multiple reintroductions, the species is now also
freely roaming wild in some regions in Yakutia as well as Mexico.Two
subspecies or ecotypes have been described: the plains bison (B. b.
bison), smaller in size and with a more rounded hump, and the wood
bison (B. b. athabascae)â€"the larger of the two and having a taller,
square hump. Furthermore, the plains bison has been suggested to
consist of a northern plains (B. b. montanae) and a southern plains
(B. b. bison) subspecies, bringing the total to three. However, this
is generally not supported. The wood bison is one of the largest wild
species of extant bovid in the world, surpassed only by the Asian
gaur. Among extant land animals in North America, the bison is the
heaviest and the longest, and the second tallest after the
moose.Spanning back many millennia, Native American tribes have had
cultural and spiritual connections to the American bison. It is the
national mammal of the United States of America. American bison Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter