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The two bison species that survive today -- the North American bison (or colloquially and inaccurately, 'buffalo') Bison bison and the European bison Bison bonasus (wisent in German or zubrów in Polish) have both had close brushes with extinction. In the late 1800's, American bison were slaughtered until only a few small wild herds remained (most notably in boreal Canada and in Yellowstone National Park). European bison were totally exterminated in the wild by 1926 and all existing animals are derived from a very small number of individuals from zoos. Populations of both species have rebounded, the American bison to a much greater degree than the European species, which exists in about 20 or so small wild herds. The American bison shown on a green summer prairie were in Yellowstone Park, or are part of a herd of about 300 animals that lives 'wild' in a huge enclosure on the Konza Prairie research area near Manhattan, Kansas. This area is mostly native tallgrass prairie, a prime habitat of the bison in its heyday, when tens of millions roamed the Great Plains. The wintertime bison images are of animals living on Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake, Utah. |
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