Bison, also called the American Buffalo, are a species of Bovine found in North America. They are a Near Threatened species with only 500,000 left in the wild.
Here are 5 fun facts about them:
- Bison have lived in the area that is now known as Yellowstone National Park since prehistoric times. Researchers believe these animals are more than 2 million years old and have survived the ice age.
- Adult bison can weigh up to 2000 pounds. Although its such a heavy animal, a bison can run at record speeds of 35 miles/hour. That’s faster than Usain Bolt’s Olympic record speed of 27.8 miles/hour.
- You can easily tell how a bison is feeling by looking at its tail. Calm bison will leave their tails down and swish it around – the movement seems effortless. But an angry bison, especially one that’s about to charge, will have its tail straight upwards, pointing towards the sky.
- Bison calves are called “red dogs” because of the colour of their fur. When bison calves are born, they are orange-red in colour and they turn brown-black as they age.
- A bison’s hump is made of strong muscles. This lump of muscle, supported by the animal’s strong vertebral column, helps the bison shovel large amounts of snow and dirt from the ground when its foraging for food. Unlike the camel (which uses its fat-filled hump as a source of energy during times of scarcity), a bison can’t use its hump as anything other than a snow/dirt shovel.
Bonus
Analysis of migratory patterns show that the bison made their way to North America from Asia during the Pliocene Epoch via the natural land bridge that connected Asia to North America, before the split of the Pangaea. So, although the bison is now the USA’s national mammal, it was never their indigenous species.
Video: Two juggernauts go head-to-head in a fight to the finish for land and ladies. What happens next?
-NISHA PRAKASH
P.S: Photo Credits: Pixabay
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