The North American bison is the largest land animal in North America. A bull can stand 2 metres high and weigh more than a tonne. Female bison are slightly smaller than males.

Winter poses few problems for bison. Their winter coats, reinforced by a heavy mane over the vital organs, protect them from the cold, and they can find nourishing grasses and sedges by swinging their heads from side to side to push away the snow. The bison’s’ instincts protect them in blizzards, as they move into the wind instead of drifting with it like domestic cattle.

Historically, bison were known to make movements of up to hundreds of miles to take advantage of the changing availability of food plants in different seasons. These movements were most pronounced on the Great Plains, where large herds moved long distances along traditional routes. Some of these routes are still visible from the air in the form of deep
paths worn over the years in the prairie soil by millions of passing hooves.

Two hundred years ago, anywhere from 30 to 70 million bison roamed free in North America. The aboriginal people who lived on the Great Plains relied on these wild mammals for food, clothing, and shelter. When buffalo were still plentiful, the Plains Indians ate buffalo meat and made their clothing and their tepees from buffalo hides. The native hunters took advantage of the bison’s’ stampeding behavior. They drove them over cliffs and into canyons. They often killed 50 or 60 at a time, for it was practically impossible to cut out the needed few from the tightly massed herd. Nevertheless, buffalo remained abundant.

North American bison are still under threat from other sources. Grizzly bears, black bears, grey wolves and cougars have been known to prey on bison. The grizzly bear was and would still be a deadly enemy, but neither it nor the formidable cougar are numerous in buffalo territory today. Wolves are a danger chiefly to the young, the sick, and the old, because a buffalo in its prime is usually a match for wolves.