The American Bison: A Success Story by Noémie, Claire and Eesha (CM1-A)

The American Bison

Photo by Jim Bowen

Before the arrival of the European settlers in America, there were still 50 to 70 million bison from North America, living and migrating from the grassy plains of Mexico to Canada.

The American Bison lives in North America, in the Midwest. They became extinct by a combination of commercial hunting and slaughter.

These herds were hunted at the end of the nineteenth century to the point of almost threatening the survival of the species (only 325 were remained in 1884).

There were about 500,000 in 2015, and at least some in each state. In May 2016, the bison became the official mammal of the United States.

The North American bison is one of the two species still alive, the other being the European bison. One of the distinctive characteristics of the American Bison is his width, which is 1.5 to 2 m. The length of this species is 2 to 3.5 m.

It was an essential animal for many Amerindian cultures.

We chose this animal because we think the big animals have more difficulties to live than small animals.