In American Western culture, the bison is commonly referred to as "buffalo"; however, this is a misnomer: though both bison and buffalo belong to the Bovidae family, the term "buffalo" properly applies only to the Asian water buffalo and African buffalo. The gaur, a large, thick-coated ox found in Asia, is also known as the "Indian bison", although it is in the genus Bos and thus not a true bison.
The American and European bison are the largest terrestrial mammals in North America and Europe. Bison travel in herds, except for the non-dominant bulls, which travel alone or in small groups during most of the year. American bison are known for living in the Great Plains. Both species were hunted close to extinction during the 19th and 20th centuries but have since rebounded, although the European bison is still endangered.
Unlike the Asian water buffalo, bison have never really been domesticated, although the American bison is kept on some farms.
Bison live to be about 20 years old and are born without their trademark "hump" or horns. With the development of their horns, they become mature at two to three years of age, although the males continue to grow slowly to about age seven. Adult bulls express a high degree of dominance competitiveness during mating season.
Bison are up to 11.5 feet (3.5m) in length, up to 6.5 feet (2m) in height and up to one ton in weight.
On March 16, 2007, 15 Canadian bison were re-introduced to Colorado to roam where they did over a century ago. A fenced herd of 15 bison has been established in the 17,000-acre (69 kmē) Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, a former chemical weapons manufacturing site.
On September 21, 2007, new research was published by biologist Dennis Hedgecock of the University of Southern California and Texas A&M University in the journal Animal Genetics. DNA analysis of the Catalina wild American bison of Santa Catalina Island, California showed that it is not pure bred -- 45% of them have domestic cattle in their ancestry.