Bison

Bison, the popular name for two species of wild cattle (Bos europaeus and B. americanus), sometimes made a distinct genus (Bison) of Bovidae (q.v.). These animals differ chiefly from the common ox and other members of the genus Bos in the greater breadth and convexity of the frontal bones, in their longer limbs, in the presence of an additional pair of ribs (there being fourteen pairs in the bison and only thirteen in the ox), and in the much greater development of the spinal processes of the dorsal vertebrae, which serve as points of attachment for the muscles that support the head, and with them form the hump so characteristic of these animals. The orbits are tubular, and the curved round horn-cores are placed considerably below the level of the occiput. The European Bison (B. europaeus) has been known from classic times. There is very little doubt that it is the bonassos of Aristotle, and the bison of Oppian; it is mentioned by Pliny (lib. viii. c. 15), and contrasted with the urus (B. primigenius), with which it is often confounded, and the same contrast is made by Martial (Lib. Spec. 28) in his epigram on the hunter Carpophorus, who was also a professional fighter with wild beasts in the arena. According to this author (i. 105) the European Bison was trained to draw chariots in the Roman spectacles. This species was formerly abundant over the central and eastern parts of Europe but is now restricted to the Caucasus, and to the forest of Bialowicza in Lithuania, where it is protected by the Emperor of Russia. It is the larger of the two species, and the largest living European quadruped. standing about six feet at the shoulders and measuring some ten feet from the muzzle to the root of the tail, which is nearly three feet in length; and the strength of the huge beast is proportional to its size. The general colour is dusky brown; the hair on the forehead is long and wavy, and there is a kind of beard on the chin and breast. In winter the neck, hump, and withers are clothed with dark brown hair, with an undergrowth of soft fur; the former is shed in the summer, and renewed in the following winter. The cows are smaller than the bulls, and their manes and beards are not so thick and long; they carry their young (which do not attain maturity till their sixth year) for nine months, the same period as the domestic cow, and the duration of life has been put at from thirty to forty years. Like the ox the bison grazes. but feeds also on brushwood, and the bark and shoots of young trees, especially of the ash, birch, poplar, and willow. It is extremely shy, and as its sense of smell is very acute, the hunter can only approach it from the lee side; and when provoked it is very formidable. It runs with great speed, but has little staying power, and holds its head very low so that the hoofs are raised above it in galloping. This form is represented by a variety (v. priscus) in the Pleistocene of Europe and Arctic America.

The American Bison (B. americanus) is somewhat smaller than B. europaeus. but with a much larger chest, a smaller and weaker pelvis, a shorter and smaller tail, shorter horns, more shaggy head, and heavier beard. It formerly ranged in vast herds over North America, between the Great Slave Lake and the Mexican frontier, "forming the chief means of subsistence to tribes of Indians equally doomed to speedy extinction;" now as a wild animal it has practically vanished, and only a few herds remain, in a more or less protected condition. In 1886, when the authorities at the Smithsonian Institute wished to procure specimens for stuffing and mounting, their agents, after diligent search, were only able to bring back twenty-five. The flesh of old bulls was tough and hard, but that of young fat cows made excellent beef, and was dried or made into pemmican for future use, while the tongue and hump were reckoned special delicacies, and the fat was rendered into tallow. The skins were dressed for robes or tanned for buff leather, the coarse wool was made into cloth, and the droppings - known as "buffalo-chips" or bois-de-rache - were utilised as fuel. No serious attempt has ever been made to domesticate this species, but Mr. Allen (to whose monograph all recent writers are indebted) thinks that the experiment "would eventually yield a satisfactory and probably a profitable result, with the possibility of adding another valuable domestic animal to those we already possess. It is probable that a mixed race might be reared with advantage." B. latifrons, from the Pleistocene of Texas, is generally considered to have been the ancestor of this form. As the European species is misnamed the Aurochs, this animal is often wrongly called a "buffalo" - the particular bovine to which it is least related, and which it least resembles. In India the name "bison" is commonly applied by the English to the Gaur (q.v.).