The Denver Post: Bison: It’s what’s for dinner. Here are tips and recipes.
The earliest members of the bison lineage, known from the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of the Indian Subcontinent (Bison sivalensis) and China (Bison palaeosinensis), approximately 3.4-2.6 million years ago (Ma) are placed in the subgenus Bison (Eobison).
What makes Yellowstone's bison so special is that they're the pure descendants (free of cattle genes) of early bison that roamed our country's grasslands. As of July 2015, Yellowstone's bison population was estimated at 4,900—making it the largest bison population on public lands.
Bison, either of two species of oxlike grazing mammals that constitute the genus Bison. Hunting drastically reduced the populations of the American bison (B. bison), or buffalo, and the European bison (B. bonasus), or wisent, and now these animals occupy only small fractions of their former ranges.
A familiar icon of the American West, the Plains bison (Bison bison bison), also commonly called buffalo, is one of two subspecies of the American bison, with the other being the wood bison (Bison bison athabascae).
The American bison’s scientific name is Bison bison, and there are two recognized subspecies: the plains bison and the wood bison. Each subspecies has adapted to different environments and climates.
Beginning in 1905, the American Bison Society and the US government launched a campaign to save the species from extinction and restore bison numbers, an effort that succeeded but ended in 1935.
Did You Know? The genus Bison includes two living species (American bison and European bison) plus several extinct Ice Age forms. Their signature shoulder hump is powered by enlarged muscles and long spines that help drive the head through snow and tough vegetation.