Meet the Bison

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Kate Waggoner

One of the younger bison at the Wildlife Safari.

Ricardo Valle and Cord Mincher

At the Wildlife Safari you can find all sorts of creatures, but the one I am going to talk about are the bison. Bison are an ungulate; an ungulate is a hooved animal. Bison have a lot of fun facts and I will tell you some of them.

The bison’s native habitat is the United States and Mid-Western Canada, mostly in prairies. At the Wildlife Safari you can find bison in the Americas section of the drive through. When the workers are working with the bison they are mostly hands off just giving them food and leaving them in their herds.

There are 33 bison at the Wildlife Safari, and you can see them roaming around the fields.
Bison are very different from buffalo, though they are close relatives. Bison are shaggier, have a humped back, an afro, a beard, and short curved horns. The bison are grazers (grazers eat plants) and eat a grass, hay, and a grain diet. Sometimes bison can move up to three miles a day just eating or searching for food.

Bison in the wild live for about 15 years, but they can live 25 years in captivity. The oldest bison at the Safari is called Star and is 27 years old. Some fun facts about bison are: they can run 30 mph; during breeding season, a male’s bellow can be heard from 3 miles away; the babies are cute and bright orange; and, the males are also very playful.
The next time you’re at the Safari take a moment to check out the bison roaming in the Americas section of the drive through.