What is "bison"

Bison \Bi"son\ (b[imac]"s[o^]n; 277), n. [L. bison, Gr. bi`swn, a wild ox; akin to OHG. wisunt, wisant, G. wisent, AS. wesend, Icel. v[=i]sundr: cf. F. bison.] (Zo["o]l.)

1. The aurochs or European bison.

2. The American bison buffalo ( Bison Americanus), a large, gregarious bovine quadruped with shaggy mane and short black horns, which formerly roamed in herds over most of the temperate portion of North America, but by 1900 was restricted to very limited districts in the region of the Rocky Mountains, and was almost hunted to extinction.

   Note: Efforts at conservation of the American bison resulted in setting aside several reserves, and by 1990 a few stable herds were established, numbering from hundreds to thousands, roaming certain public areas, such as Yellowstone Park, some reserves in Canada, and some private reserves. Some bison are kept as range animals for food, and the American bison has been bred with domestic cattle to form a cross called the beefalo. The American bison is commonly (though improperly) called a buffalo; an image of the bison appeared on the inverse of the U. S. five-cent coin (nickel) from 1913 to 1937, and that coin was referred to as the buffalo nickel.

c.1600, from French bison (15c.), from Latin bison "wild ox," borrowed from Proto-Germanic *wisand- "aurochs" (cognates: Old Norse visundr, Old High German wisunt "bison," Old English/Middle English wesend, which is not attested after c.1400). Possibly ultimately of Baltic or Slavic origin, and meaning "the stinking animal," in reference to its scent while rutting (see weasel). A European wild ox formerly widespread on the continent, including the British Isles, now surviving on forest reserves in Lithuania. Applied 1690s to the North American species commonly mis-called a buffalo.

n. 1 A wild ox, ''Bison bonasus''. 2 A similar American animal, ''Bison bison'' else ''Bos americanus'' or ''Bisonte americano''; also called a buffalo.

n. any of several large shaggy-maned humped bovids having large heads and short horns

Bison or buffalo 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: Bison antiquus, B. latifrons, and B. occidentalis. The fourth, B. priscus, ranged across steppe environments from Western Europe, through Central Asia, East Asia including Japan, 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. 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.

Bison is a taxonomic group containing six species of large even-toed ungulates, among them the extant American bison and European bison (the wisent).

Bison or Bisons may also refer to:

Bison (William "Billy" Kitson) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

The Bison is an armoured personnel carrier based on the 8x8 MOWAG Piranha II platform, and was produced by General Motors Diesel Division (now General Dynamics Land Systems Canada) in London, Ontario. They were purchased and intended for operation by the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve, but were rapidly appropriated by the regular force of the Canadian Army.

Bison is an outdoor 1902 bronze sculpture of a bison by German sculptor Rudolf Siemering, installed in Tiergarten, Berlin, Germany.

Bison is an outdoor c. 1960 stone sculpture of an American bison by an unknown artist, installed at the west entrance to the courtyard of Lawrence Hall on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Oregon, in the United States.

Buffalo is the twenty-fourth novel of Patrick Grainville, published in Éditions du Seuil on January 2, 2014.