Bison

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This article is about the animal. For other uses, see Bison (disambiguation).

Bison Temporal range: 2–0 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ Early Pleistocene – Recent
American bison (Bison bison)
European bison (Bison bonasus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Subfamily:	Bovinae
Tribe:	Bovini
Genus:	Bison Hamilton Smith, 1827
Species
B. bison B. bonasus †B. antiquus †B. latifrons †B. occidentalis †B. palaeosinensis †B. priscus

Bison are large, even-toed ungulates in the genus Bison within the subfamily Bovinae.
Two extant and four extinct species are recognized. Of the four extinct species, three were North American endemics: Bison antiquus, B. latifrons, and B. (antiquus) occidentalis. The fourth, B. priscus, ranged across steppe environments from Western Europe, through Central Asia, East Asia including Japan,^[1][2] and onto North America.
Of the two surviving species, the American bison, B. bison, found only in North America, is the more numerous. Although sometimes referred to historically as a "buffalo", it is only distantly related to the true buffalo. The North American species is composed of two subspecies, the Plains bison, B. b. bison, and the Wood bison, B. b. athabascae, which is the namesake of Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada. A third subspecies, the Eastern Woodland Bison (B. b. pennsylvanicus) is no longer considered a valid taxon, being a junior synonym of B. b. bison.^[3] References to "Woods Bison" or "Wood Bison" from the eastern United States confusingly refer to this subspecies, not B. b. athabascae, which was not found in the region. The European bison B. bonasus, or wisent, is found in Europe and the Caucasus, reintroduced after being extinct in the wild.
While all bison species are classified in their own genus, they are sometimes bred with domestic cattle (genus Bos) and produce fertile offspring called beefalo or zubron.

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