AnimalvsAnimal
Bison bison.🦬

Photo: Jack Dykinga · Public domain

SpeciesArtiodactylaBovidae
Mammals

🦬American bison

Bison bison (Linnaeus, 1758)

アメリカバイソン(Bison bison)は、哺乳綱 偶蹄目(鯨偶蹄目とする説もあり)ウシ科バイソン属に分類される偶蹄類。ヘイゲンバイソンとシンリンバイソンの2亜種または2つのエコタイプが認識されている。アメリカ合衆国の国獣に指定されており、合衆国では毎年11月の第一土曜日はバイソンの日に制定されている。 バイソン属の多様性は第四紀の大量絶滅を経て激減し、現生では本種とヨーロッパバイソンのみ生存している。これらのバイソンはどちらもステップバイソンの子孫であり、各々が現生種として生存する過程で小型化したにもかかわらず、(他のより大型のメガファウナの大量絶滅を経た結果)現代の北米大陸・シベリア・ヨーロッパにおける最大の陸棲野生動物である。 現代に生きる「アメリカバイソン」の多くまたは全てが家畜のウシとの混血である。また、1920年代を契機に遺伝的・形態的に純粋なシンリンバイソンが消失(絶滅)し、現代の「シンリンバイソン」とされる個体はすべてヘイゲンバイソンおよびウシの血統を持つ雑種である可能性がある。

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
152
Photos
6
Measurements
15
vs you
≈ 10× your weight
Conservation status
NTNear threatened

IUCN Red List assessment, 2017.

Population trendStable
Key measurements
Body mass
625 kg
Body length
2.9 m
Shoulder height
1.66 m
Top speed
52 km/h
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
33 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the American bison

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
625 kg
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 630 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Body length
2.9 m
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Shoulder height
1.66 maverage1.54–1.76 m · range across sexes
Other figures ↓

Species-level value synthesised as the mean of: female, male.

By sex

  • Male1.76 mMeagher 1986, Mammalian Species 266, p.1Value is the midpoint of the published range.
  • Female1.54 mMeagher 1986, Mammalian Species 266, p.1Value is the midpoint of the published range.
Top speed
52 km/h
Details ↓

Sprint over a short distance, not a sustained pace. Compilations give 52.0 and 54.43 km/h.

Source: Christiansen 2002, Zool J Linn Soc 136:685 and Bejan & Marden 2006, J Exp Biol 209:238; compiled in Hirt et al. 2017, Nat Ecol Evol 1:1116, Supplementary Data · see citation

Brain mass
334 g
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
33 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 34 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Generation length
12 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
2.5 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
274 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 274 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Litter size
1
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Trophic level
Herbivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Crepuscular / mixed
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Home range
47 km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Population density
0.15 per km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
625 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for American bison yet: bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classMammalia
  4. ›orderArtiodactyla
  5. ›familyBovidae
  6. ›genusBison
  7. ›speciesBison bison
Full lineage
  1. classMammals · Mammalia
  2. orderEven-toed hoofed animals · Artiodactyla
  3. familyBovidae
  4. subfamilyBovinae
All 15 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammals · Mammalia
  9. subclassTheria
  10. superorderLaurasiatheria
  11. orderEven-toed hoofed animals · Artiodactyla
  12. suborderRuminantia
  13. infraorderPecora
  14. familyBovidae
  15. subfamilyBovinae
More

More about the American bison

Closest relative on this site
🐃 Domestic yak — last shared an ancestor ≈ 2.0 million years ago.
What it eats
leaves, roots and other plants100%
In other languages
Amerikanischer Bison (de), Bison bison (es), Bison d'Amérique (fr), bizon amerykański (pl), 北美野牛 (zh), amerikai bölény (hu) … and 27 more languages

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