--- title: "American Bison (Bison bison) | AnimalTracks.wiki" description: "North America's largest land animal, up to 2,400 pounds of it, and a lone wolf that attacks an adult catches it only about once in 100 tries." image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/american-bison-1.webp" published: "2026-09-01" updated: "2026-09-14" --- # American Bison (*Bison bison*) > **Status**: Checked against 6 sources, listed under Sources below. > **Tagline**: North America's largest land animal, up to 2,400 pounds of it, and a lone wolf that attacks an adult catches it only about once in 100 tries. > **Soundtrack Vibe**: Classic Hard Rock & Southern Blues // Clutch, "Electric Worry" > **Soundtrack Links**: [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/7mQgJx5mfCuI6o8elrYCKg) | [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4ABpbxIPFI) > **Vibe Match**: Thundering driving basslines and a roaring guitar for an animal of up to 2,400 pounds that can still hit 30 miles per hour, and whose bulls prove their fitness by charging and butting heads. ## Biological Superpowers & Stats - **Taxonomy**: *Bison bison* - **Danger Level**: High - **Conservation Status**: Near Threatened ([IUCN Red List](https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2017-3.rlts.t2815a45156541.en)) - **Superpower**: A shaggy, heavily insulated head built to face straight into a blizzard and sweep snow off buried grass, backed by a 30 mph top speed. - **Habitat**: Grasslands and prairie of North America, now in fragmented conservation herds across parts of Canada and the United States - **Diet**: Mainly grasses year-round, plus flowering plants, lichens, and woody plant leaves when available - **Tags**: ungulate, grassland, herbivore, giant-size ## Natural History & Behavior ## One Wolf, One Percent Elk are the main year-round prey for Yellowstone's wolves, but bison are a different fight. Researchers studying those wolves describe bison as the most difficult prey for wolves to kill in North America, and in Yellowstone they are three times harder to kill than elk, because a bison is larger, more aggressive, and more likely to injure or kill a wolf that attacks it. > **Lone-wolf odds** A lone wolf attacking an adult bison manages to bite and restrain it only about 1% of the time, 93% less often than a lone wolf hunting elk. A capture is not necessarily a kill, because bison that wolves bite and restrain often escape. Each extra wolf in the hunting group raises its odds of a capture, up to about nine to thirteen wolves. ## North America's Largest Land Animal Bison are North America's largest terrestrial animals, and the numbers back that up. A mature bull can reach 5.5 to 6.5 feet high at the shoulder hump and nine to 12.5 feet in length; cows run smaller, at about 5 feet high and 7 to 10 feet long. Bison can weigh 1,800 to 2,400 pounds. A bison can hit 30 miles per hour despite that bulk, and its life expectancy is 15 to 20 years. In Yellowstone, bison have injured more people than any other animal. The park tells visitors to stay at least 25 yards (23 meters) away, because a bison approached too closely may bluff-charge. ## From Millions to Fewer Than a Thousand Bison were once widespread from Alaska to northern Mexico. Before 1800, bison roamed the Great Plains in vast numbers, with estimates ranging from 30 to 100 million. By the 1890s, fewer than 1,000 were left on the continent. The U.S. government slaughtered many bison in an organized effort to destroy the livelihood of the Plains Indians. Today around 30,000 bison live in conservation herds, which occupy about one percent of the original range. About 500,000 more are raised commercially as livestock. Fire and free-roaming bison interact across the landscape in a pattern researchers call pyric herbivory, literally "grazing driven by fire," and at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in the southern Great Plains that pattern was found to provide the foundation for biological diversity in North American grasslands. Day to day, a bison is mainly a grazer, eating mostly grasses but also flowering plants, lichens, and woody leaves when they're available, working through about 1.6% of its own body weight in dry plant matter every day. ## Snow-Sweepers and Early Starters A bison's shaggy head is the most heavily insulated part of its body, and it's built to face straight into a blizzard. In winter, it sweeps its head side to side to clear snow off the grass buried underneath. A newborn bison can stand and nurse within 30 minutes of being born, and within a couple of hours it begins to travel with the rest of the group. After a few days, the calf can keep up with the herd. Calves are nursed for seven to eight months and are fully weaned by the end of their first year, by which point a calf can weigh 350 to 425 pounds. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### How fast can an American bison run despite weighing up to 2,400 pounds? About 30 miles per hour (48 km/h). Bison also have excellent hearing and smell but poor eyesight, so an entire herd can stampede if it is startled. *(Source: [Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute]())* ### How hard is it for wolves to kill a bison? Researchers studying Yellowstone's wolves describe bison as the most difficult prey for wolves to kill in North America, and three times more difficult to kill there than elk, because a bison is bigger, more aggressive, and more likely to injure or kill a wolf that attacks it. A lone wolf attacking an adult bison captures it only about 1% of the time, and a bison that wolves bite and hold often escapes anyway. Each extra wolf in the hunting group improves its odds of a capture, up to a group of about nine to thirteen. *(Source: [MacNulty et al. 2014]())* ### How do bison survive Great Plains blizzards? A bison's shaggy head is the most heavily insulated part of its body, adapted to withstand blizzards while the animal stands facing into the wind. In winter, a bison also sweeps its head side to side to clear snow off the grass buried underneath. *(Source: [Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute]())* ### How do bison and fire shape the prairie together? Research at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in the southern Great Plains found that free-roaming bison and random fires interact across the landscape in a shifting pattern scientists call pyric herbivory, literally "grazing driven by fire," and that this interaction provides the foundation for biological diversity in North American grasslands. *(Source: [Fuhlendorf et al. 2009]())* ## Sources 1. [American bison. Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.]() 2. [Aune, Jørgensen & Gates (2017). Bison bison. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T2815A123789863.]() 3. [MacNulty et al. (2014). Influence of Group Size on the Success of Wolves Hunting Bison. PLoS ONE.]() 4. [Fuhlendorf et al. (2009). Pyric Herbivory: Rewilding Landscapes through the Recoupling of Fire and Grazing. Conservation Biology.]() 5. [Bison Bellows: Birth of K-selected Species. National Park Service.]() 6. [Safety. Yellowstone National Park, U.S. National Park Service, 2026.]() *Published September 1, 2026. 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