Even from the sight of these animals horror seizes, trembling runs through the body. This is a huge bison. The ancient Indians ranked these individuals as sacred. Their population today is small. This amazingly strong animal, about where the bison lives (in which zone of the planet), about its features can be found in this article.
They differ in surprisingly voluminous sizes and a large massive physique. They are similar in appearance to bison. And in nature, even with the latter, they interbreed with each other, and therefore they are combined into one species.
Description
Where does the bison live, on what continent do these surprisingly large animals live?
Before we find out, consider what they are.
The bison has striking dimensions: height at the withers - up to 2 meters, body length - up to 3 meters. The weight of the males is approximately 1.2 tons. These are the largest terrestrial animals. Females of a bison, as in most animals, are significantly inferior to male relatives. Their body weight is approximately 700 kg.
The body of the bison covered with thick wool is gray in color with a brownish tint. Their color can vary from light red to dark brown and almost black tones. Young calves are born with a yellow coat, but over time it darkens. Light (almost white) color bison are quite rare.
The coat is longer and darker in the bison on the chest, head and beard, and is shorter throughout the rest of the body. This feature gives the appearance of the animal even greater volume and menacing.
The head of the bison is rather massive, with a wide forehead. Thick and short horns, diverging to the sides at the very base of the head, bend inward at the ends. This animal has narrow and small ears, a massive and short neck, large dark eyes.
The most characteristic feature of the structure of the bison is an unusual hump, which is located on its scruff.
Where does the bison live?
The mainland on which the bison live is North America. For a long time buffalo (or buffalo) lived in the territories of almost all of North America. But today this population exists only in the northern and western sections of the river. Missouri.
The populations of forest bison remained very small. These individuals live mainly in the most remote and marshy forests of the basins of the Buffalo, Birch (near the lakes Athabasca and Bolshoy Nevolnichye) and Peace.
Today, bison are grown for commercial purposes. Their number is approximately 500 thousand animals (mostly the steppe bison). About 4, 000 private North American ranches are used for their breeding.
About 30 thousand individuals live in the wild, and they, as a species on the verge of extinction, are listed in the Red Book.
Species, subspecies
In nature today there are two subspecies: forest (bull forest) and steppe. They differ in the cover of fur and structural features of the body. Where do these bison live? And how do they differ?
The steppe bison is a large ungulate animal weighing up to 700 kg. It is slightly smaller in weight and size than forest. A rather large head has a large pile of thick hair between large horns and the same thick beard. Its hump rises above the bases of the front legs. One of the distinguishing features of the steppe bison is a pronounced throat, which is extended beyond the chest. The thick fur coat is light brown in color.
The forest bison, as noted above, exceeds the steppe in size. But his head is slightly smaller and framed by a darkish bang, his horns are long and thin. It also has a rudimentary throat and hump. The fur of a forest bison is not very dense. The weight of the male often exceeds 900 kg. The fur of this species is darker and warmer.
Habitat
Forest bison first became known at the end of the 19th century. Scientists believe that their ancestors were primitive bison.
Where do the bison live? And where did they live? The genus was once laid by wild bulls (the genus Leptobos), which lived in the Pliocene (about 35, 000 years ago) in India. Today there is a hypothesis that it was they who spread northward into the wide steppes and evolved into steppe bisons.
From the expanses of Siberian bison, along the earthly passage that existed in those days, it ended up in North America. This version appeared in connection with the finding in 1979 in Alaska (Yukon Island) of a fossil specimen of this bull.
And where do the bison live (in which country)? In addition to Canada and the United States, reintroduction of US forest bison is currently being reintroduced back to Alaska. Their very first batch of 53 animals was brought to these places in 2008.
But despite the efforts made to conserve the population, the future of bison remains in doubt. Dangers to their life: various diseases massively affecting cattle, and their mixing with the steppe buffalo, which is undesirable.
Animal behavior
Where do bison live at different times of the year? They lead a nomadic lifestyle. In summer they live on the spacious northern plains, and in winter migrate to the southern areas. In those days when there were a lot of them, they walked in huge impressive herds (thousands of individuals), occupying vast territories. Moreover, they chose the route themselves, and it was connected with watering places.
During periods of such migrations, there were cases when these herds blocked the movement of trains and steamers stopped.
And how do they behave with their relatives where buffalo live in herds? In essence, these animals are gregarious. Their family organization is in many ways similar to the habits of bison. Females and males are kept separately outside the breeding season.
After calves are born, females with their cubs form groups with up to 30 individuals. Males usually graze alone, but sometimes in bachelor herds (up to 15 individuals). Compared to the old days, bison form clusters on pastures, consisting of only a few hundred individuals.
At night, the buffalo sleep, but their sleep is short. Grazed around the clock. In general, this is a calm and balanced animal, but in rare cases (with anxiety) they are able to show aggression. Despite the huge body weight, bison can develop a high speed (about 50 km / h), and during the run they make sounds (snoring or grunting).
