Bison bison bison
| Plains bison | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Subfamily: | Bovinae |
| Genus: | Bison |
| Species: | B. bison |
| Subspecies: | B. b. bison |
| Trinomial name | |
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Bison bison bison (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Bison bison montanae |
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Bison bison montanae
The Plains bison (Bison bison bison) is one of two subspecies/ecotypes of the American bison, the other being the wood bison (B. b. athabascae). Furthermore, it has been suggested that the Plains bison consists of a northern (B. b. montanae) and a southern subspecies, bringing the total to three. However, this is generally not supported. A natural population of Plains bison survives in Yellowstone National Park (the Yellowstone Park bison herd consisting of about 3,000 bison) and multiple smaller reintroduced herds of bison in many places in Canada and the United States.
At one time, at least 25 million American bison were spread across the United States and Canada. However, by the late 1880s, the total number of bison in the United States had been reduced to fewer than 600 individuals. Most of these were collected onto various private ranches, and the last known free-roaming population of bison consisted of less than 30 in the area which later became Yellowstone National Park. Though it was the official policy of the United States government to minimize or eliminate the bison, and most farmers and ranchers considered bison to be a pest or nuisance, some people were concerned about the demise of this North American icon, so individual landowners took steps to protect a few. Some people saved bison with the express purpose of ranching or hunting them (see Antelope Island bison herd), but some groups such as the American Bison Society were also formed with the idea of saving the species and reintroducing them to at least part of their previous natural range. Plains bison have since been reintroduced into a number of locations around North America. Five main foundation herds of American bison supplied animals intended to save them from extinction. The northernmost introduction occurred in 1928 when the Alaska Game Commission brought bison to the area of present-day Delta Junction. Bison taken from this transplant were also introduced to other Alaska locations, including Farewell and Chitina. The Delta Junction herd prospered the most, with a population of several hundred throughout the late 20th century. This herd is popular with hunters interested in hundreds of pounds of high-quality meat, but has been a problem for farming operations in the area. Though American bison generally prefer grasslands and plains habitats, they are quite adaptable and live in conditions ranging from desert, as in the case of the Henry Mountains bison herd, to forested areas, such as those of the Yellowstone Park bison herd; yet, they are all of the same subspecies Bison bison bison. Currently, over 500,000 bison are spread over the United States and Canada. However, most of these are on private ranches, and some of them have small amounts of hybridized cattle genes. Significant public bison herds that do not appear to have hybridized domestic cattle genes are the Yellowstone Park, the Henry Mountains, the Wind Cave, and the Wood Buffalo National Park bison herds and subsidiary herds descended from it in Canada.
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Wikipedia