🦬American bison

Bison bison (Linnaeus, 1758)

美洲野牛（學名：Bison bison），又名北美野牛、美洲水牛、犎牛，是偶蹄目牛科哺乳動物，也是北美洲體型最大的哺乳動物和世界上最大野牛之一。儘管體型龐大，仍可維持60公里的奔跑速度。主要群體由雌牛和幼牛組成；單身雄性會另外組成群體，只有交配時才會聚集在一起。平時以嫩莖晘草為食，無領域性。美洲森林野牛一般被認為是其亞種，但分類地位仍有爭議。最近根據最新DNA研究顯示，牠和歐洲野牛親源關係比所知還要接近。其兩個亞種分別是：美洲平原野牛，體型較小和有較圓滑的背部隆肉；和美洲森林野牛，體型較大和較高和方形的背部隆肉。美洲森林野牛是北美洲最大的亞種，牠的體型大過亞洲野牛和野生水牛，後兩者主要出現在印度。野牛大量集體居住在美國和加拿大的大平原，由加拿大遠北的大奴湖至南面的墨西哥，再由奧勒崗州東部至大西洋一帶。雖然美洲野牛也稱美洲水牛，但實際牠和水牛或非洲水牛相似地方不大。

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Measurements

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