Last night we were watching jeopardy and one of the contestants missed a question that pictured an animal \u2014 the contestant identified it as a buffalo, but the correct answer was a bison. The category, I think, was American History. I can understand the mistake \u2014 bison are often called buffalos, and buffalos are often referred to as bison.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I grew up in Oklahoma \u2014 often referred to as the old west or maybe the wild west\u2026. it wasn\u2019t, of course, but when I came to the east coast, a lot of people thought I was from \u201cway out west.\u201d\u00a0
But anyhow, when I was growing up these animals were always called buffalos \u2014 I don\u2019t remember hearing the word bison when I was young.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So even though I lived in the \u201cAmerican West\u201d and there was a popular song, \u201cHome on the Range,\u201d that had a line in it \u201c\u2026 where the buffalo roam,\u201d that song got a fairly important detail wrong \u2014 buffalo never roamed in the area, but bison did \u2014 and still do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buffalo and bison are two distinct animals. Buffalo are native to Africa and Asia. Bison are found in North America and Europe.\u00a0
I knew the answer to the Jeopardy question and I can actually tell the difference between a buffalo and a bison, but I thought maybe I\u2019d do a little extensive research on the subject and I discovered a number of interesting things about both species\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I mentioned, contrary to the \u201cHome on the Range\u201d song, buffalo do not roam in America. True buffalo are only found in Africa and Asia \u2014 bison are only found in North America and Europe.
So, admittedly, the two animals do look similar \u2014 how do you tell them apart?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their body shapes are different \u2014 that makes it easy to tell them apart from a distance. Bison have a large hump on their shoulders, along with an oversized head that makes them look \u201cfront heavy.\u201d Buffalo don\u2019t have a hump and have smaller heads and shoulders \u2014 more in proportion to the rest of their bodies.
Another way to tell the difference is the horns \u2014 bison horns are shorter and sharper than buffalo horns.
And bison have a longish, unkempt beard under their chin \u2014 they\u2019re sometimes referred to as the \u201cplains hippies.\u201d Buffalo do not have a beard.
Bison have a dense, two-layered coat that allows them to survive the extreme temperatures of the Great Plains. They grow a thick, shaggy coat for the winter, and that coat is shed annually each spring. Buffalo have relatively smooth and sleek thin coats and they don\u2019t shed. Living in Africa and souther Asia, they aren\u2019t exposed to such extremes temperatures, so they don\u2019t need to grow a thick bison-like coat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So if you\u2019re out on the ranch and a big animal roams by, it\u2019s a bison \u2014 not a buffalo. And if you\u2019re on Jeopardy and they show you a picture of a large, bovine animal and the category is American History, the answer is bison \u2014 bison, not<\/em> buffalo. Last night we were watching jeopardy and one of the contestants missed a question that pictured an animal \u2014 the contestant identified it as a buffalo, but the correct answer was a bison. The category, I think, was American History. … Continue reading
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