Bison (buffalo) _Bison bison_ (Teutonic name given to this animal) Range: At present bison exist only in widely scattered sanctuaries. In Colonial times they ranged from southern Alaska to the Texas plains, from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic, and as far south as Georgia. They are known in historic times in Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. [Illustration: Habitat map] Habitat: Mainly grasslands; a comparatively small number known locally as “wood” bison lived in the fringes of the forests. Description: Although bison are familiar to almost everyone, some figures on weights and dimensions may be surprising. Bulls weigh up to 1800 lbs., reach 6 feet height at the shoulders and up to 11 feet in length, of which about 2 feet is the short tail. Cows average much smaller from 800 to 1000 pounds, and rarely over 7 feet long. Both sexes have heavy, black, sharply curving horns, tapering quickly to a point, and a heavy growth of woolly hair covering most of the head and forequarters. A large hump lies over the latter and descends sharply to the neck. The head is massive, horns widely spaced, and small eyes set far apart. A heavy “goatee” swings from the lower jaw. All these features combine to give the animal a most ponderous appearance. Nevertheless, bison are surprisingly agile and are not creatures with which to trifle, especially in the breeding season, when bulls will charge with little provocation. Like most wild cattle, bison normally bear but one calf per year. Twins are uncommon. The history of the bison is unique in the annals of American mammalogy. It hinges on simple economics, reflecting transfer of the western prairies from Indian control to white. It is a pitifully short history in its final stages, requiring only 50 years to drive a massive species, numbering in the millions, from a well balanced existence to near extinction. Yet considering the nature of civilization and progress there could have been no other end, so perhaps it is well that it was quickly over. For countless centuries the bison had roamed the prairies, their seasonal migrations making eddies in the great herds that darkened the plains. They were host to the Indian, and to the gray wolf, yet so well were they adapted to their life that these depredations were merely normal inroads on their numbers. They drifted with the seasons and the weather cycles, grazing on the nutritious grasses of the prairie. Weather and food supply; these were the main factors which controlled the “buffalo” population until the coming of the white man.